Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Anuradha Chepur]

You must have heard about the bomb blasts in Mumbai on July 11. The media has dubbed it as 7/11 attacks.

[ClarissaMach]

I heard about it on BBC. I'm sorry for India. Terrorism is a disease....
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Stormy Weather.

[technomaniac_tzp]

But 7/11 is not 9/11.when Americans die the whole world sits up and takes notice.They pursue the terrorists.When Indians die, there is either no reaction or a mere condemntion.That's all.Everyone knows Pakistan and its ISI is behind it.They are the ones who help the terrorists.Terrorists cellls are mushrooming in PoK(Pakistan occupied Kashmir) but the whole world is blind to it.Indians cannot attack these as Pakistan enjoys support of the Americans and the Chinese as well as the Gulf countries.America's War On Terror is different from India's fight against terrorism.Amercan blood is valued in dollars while Indian blood in rupees or even less.Mussharaf cannot be trusted.The best thing to do would be to bomb these terrosists camps in Pok.But that is not possible because US and China would protect Pakistan. Many more people have died in India because of terrorism then in 9/11 and other such incidents combined.But Pakistan is never punished.
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The difference between insanity and genius is measured by success

[jarczis]

maybe there are somebody from india.Why such big country didn't smash pakistan ?

[ieltsinsider]

Jarczis - Look at the post above yours. I don't agree with it entirely, mainly because I don't think anyone knows where many of the camps are, but technomaniac is right about US and Chinese support for Pakistan.

[flying_pig319]

Yes!
My parents and I were talking about this just yesterday at dinner--
why it was such a big deal when countries like the US or England were bombed, but NOT a big deal when places like India were bombed. (Media coverage of "7-11" has been surprisingly scarce in the US).
I think they (my parents) were hinting at the idea that Americans (in general, I'm not saying I believe this) were less stirred by foreign death when the people were less like them.
As in, we're too racist to care about people that don't look like us.
It's not good.

We also related this to the Japanese internment camps (the US, during WWII, put the Japanese-Americans in "camps" for fear that they might be communicating with the enemy). I'll give you one guess why they didn't put the German-Americans or Italian-Americans in camps...

By the way, I think dubbing it 7-11 is totally dumb. The media shouldn't be thinking up a cute little name for the event, it should be genuinely concerned for the people affected by it.
7-11?
Gimme a break.
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peace-monger

[Anuradha Chepur]

FP, maybe the media hoped the world would sit up and make note of it atleast because of the catchy title.

[flying_pig319]

[ieltsinsider]

The Western media is pretty powerful and they focus more on what the Western countries do than what other countries do. As I've pointed out on other posts, big mistake. I don't think it's racism though. I think that the Western media thinks Westerners aren't interested in or cannot comprehend problems in countries like India. I don't think either is necessarily true.

It certainly is a sad day when the media needs a catchy title to bring attention to a bombing. But then I find a lot of what the Western media does to be very sad.

[Anuradha Chepur]

The western media, however, is not (that) indifferent when it comes to natural calamities in countries like India. So also in other matters like Indira Gandhi's assassination for instance, which was first reported in BBC ( way back in 1984). In fact I remember in those days most news used to be on BBC before it was reported in the Indian media. Yes, its certainly not racism. Probably they don't want to project terrorism as a global problem, which as to be addressed at a global level.

[ieltsinsider]

A.C. - I agree with you. The media used to extensively cover worthwhile events, but now ... In Britain, we call it "dumbing down".

[Anuradha Chepur]

I see ielts. It's a conscious strategy then, but don't you think it's the terrorists who benefit from these double standards - when the world is divided in it's approach to the problem.

[flying_pig319]

[asterix]

In Canada the terrorist attack in Mumbai got extensive coverage.
It is a disgustingly psychotic and cowardly way of making a political statement to attack civilians as they go about their daily business.
Unfortunately the people who do this have somehow convinced themselves that it is all for the glory of Allah.
A religion that inspires unthinking obedience is easily perverted by unscupulous men.

[flying_pig319]

In Canada the terrorist attack in Mumbai got extensive coverage. <<That's because the Canadian government is lightyears ahead of our government. I'm moving when I'm older.

Unfortunately the people who do this have somehow convinced themselves that it is all for the glory of Allah. <<I'm sure it is something we should blame on the people themselves, not on their religion.

A religion that inspires unthinking obedience is easily perverted by unscupulous men. <<Islam is so interesting like that. The Quran puts SO much emphasis on individual thinking and coming to one's own conclusions about things, but it ALSO puts a LOT of emphasis on the idea that you should submit your whole self to Allah.
I guess the idea is that you should come to your own conclusions, but the conclusion that you should come to is that you SHOULDN'T come to your own conclusions (only Allah should).
Not very a very well-designed religion, in my view

But I think you're right- people get so caught up in obeying Allah that they get almost OCD-crazy about it and end up doing things like this (but again, I'm positive that this is something we should attribute to the men themselves, not to the nature of the religion. Many Muslims manage to obey Allah WITHOUT bombing hundreds of innocent people
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peace-monger