I find it odd that so much of the U.S. coverage of the devastation in South Asia--countries inhabited exclusively by non-caucasian people--focuses on heartwarming tales of the white survivors. Now I may be terribly, terribly wrong, but why do I assume of the now over 100,000 dead, people of Northern European decent are the vast minority? A percentage of a percent, I'd wager. Yet if you go by our news outlets alone, you'd think a handful of white tourists were the only to survive, to be reunited with loved ones. I am left to conclude: (a) Caucasians, particularly Northern Europeans, are simply more buoyant, and therefore more apt to survive a tsunami, or (b) The United States, as per usual, really doesn't give a shit about your fate if you're brown and poor.
I'm open to any and all alternate suggestions.
In the meantime, after two days of deliberation, G and I finally decided Oxfam would receive our relief donation. Who did you donate to?
Posted by Antigeist at December 30, 2004 01:21 PMYour hunch is correct, sad to say.
American Friends Service Committee, I think. My firm's going to match any contributions we make to the Red Cross, so I'll do that next week, too.
Posted by: z. at December 30, 2004 03:57 PM"are simply more buoyant"
They're definitely fatter!
We don't have cable, only local channels, and usually don't watch TV. As we were putting in a dvd last night ("Kitchen Stories") we caught a brief moment of I think ABC reporting on the possibility of it happening off the East Coast of the US. See that's the important lesson of this whole tragedy - How do WE protect ourselves. Blows me away.
And over at "This Modern World":
"A Rush Limbaugh caller wants to know where all the foreign aid from other countries for America was during the Florida hurricanes".
We've sent money to the Red Cross.
Posted by: William Bragg at December 30, 2004 04:56 PMI too thought it was base of the news stations to talk specifically of white (U.S. or European) survivors. On CNN it is somewhat obvious that our prediliction to compare what 100s of thousands of brown skinned people suffered to the fractional amount of white touristsis is so one sided.
It is so obvious that it is tiresome.
My donation went to Doctors Without Borders. I've been trying to avoid the television coverage, sticking mainly with that from online news sources.
Posted by: Debbie at December 31, 2004 11:22 AMOh, so true. Nice to see I wasn't the only person watching CNN and going, "What the hell?"
Posted by: Marya at January 2, 2005 02:03 PMYou know there is a more idealistic thought, I am sure it is merely BS, but it would be nice to think it happened this way.
Maybe the Northern European decent people in this case caucasions are sought to speak to the American/Canadian/European audiences because they know the culture to whom they are speaking.
Of course the other piece to that is that the people that can afford to take a trip to that part of the world and cruise around in a sailboat or scuba dive probably have more money then the average American/Canadian/European, certianly more then the people who lived in that region, and by proxy, need to have their stories told.
After all Rich People are the important people right? (Insert heavy sarcasm here)
Posted by: Kev at January 3, 2005 04:15 AM