Sikh Temple Shooting, Who Cares?

[BlaqueKatt]

It's a growing trend. People care less about the injustices around them because they can't or won't count themselves among the victims.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

or a modern version of it from african poet Niyi Osundare

those who don't learn from history......Hatred, oppression, discrimination, and violence affect us all, damage us all, destroy us all. We are one species, one race, one tribe, we are each other, sadly we are lower than rats on the empathy scale....I don't despise my fellow man, but at times I am truly disgusted by them, and their disregard for suffering.

[Jester]

I think there are two things at play here.

First, the Aurora shootings are still very recent, they were far bloodier, they were far more random, and they saturated the news media. This was, if you will pardon the rather crass analogy, akin to an aftershock after an earthquake. A story, but not as big as the original.

Mind you, this is not MY mindset, but what I am guessing is the general viewpoint of the media as a whole. "Oh, crap, another shooting? Well, we just played Aurora to death, didn't we?"

Every life lost is tragic.

I am going to somewhat disagree here. The shooter in the Sikh temple murders was killed by police. I don't find that lost life at all tragic. My only problem with it is was that it happened AFTER the asshole took out six innocent people. If only he had spared the world his pain and put his first bullet square into his own brain pan, he would have put himself out of misery, and that would have been even less tragic than the cops taking him out.

So hate crimes are only worthy of attention when they're committed against a certain group?

In this case I have to believe that, in addition to my comments above, it is partly because there are only about 700,000 Sikhs in America, as opposed to millions of blacks, millions of Christians, millions of movie goers, millions of students on high school and college campuses. It is about numbers. Most of the 300 million + Americans do not know many, if ANY Sikhs. I don't, and I'm rather well-traveled and very sociable.

And, coarse as it is, there is a reality in news media which I learned while a broadcasting major: stories are as important as they are viewed by the general population. Was this near to me? Were these people I know? Am I in danger? To be blunt, a factory fire that kills a thousand in New Delhi is going to be far less of a news story to a person in Indianapolis than the huge pileup on I-70 that killed 30. Far less lives were lost, but it is more proximate to the viewer. A more personal example:, I am far more familiar with the Phoenix Buddhist Temple massacre and Phoenix Lights stories than my friends who are not from Phoenix. While it may not be pleasant to accept, the same can be said for moviegoers vs. Sikh temple worshippers, as far as the general American consciousness goes.