Quote:
Originally Posted by Alawen
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This is very similar to the conversation I had with my sister. People are swayed by accessible tragedies where the people involved look like them. I really do understand now. I'm just horribly unimpressed.
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I don't think it's about people looking like them. Were any of the kids black or Hispanic? Does anyone even care? The point is that it's easier to identify with people in similar communities and similar stations in life. People care about Africans being murdered in the Sudan, but it's so far removed from anything a typical American sees or feels that it's barely a step up from reading history or fiction. If there were video coverage of these types of massacres as they occurred, I think Americans would be far more empathetic. But as it is, it's an avalanche of horrific statistics from places most Americans have never seen and never will see.
I don't think race is a major factor at all. It's about identification and visibility.