On Friday night as I was taking a break from working on a paper, I scrolled through Twitter and saw the first “Pray For Paris” post. After reading the reports on what happened, my mood completely shifted. I couldn’t think clearly for the rest of the night about my paper; all I could think about was how each time that I checked into the news, the number of lives lost seemed to grow. All I could see were the pictures of innocent civilians and the picture that was released of the concert hall on the night before the event happened — how the room was packed and the people looked happy. Events like this one, sudden and tragic, are ones that bring out an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability. It reminds me that any moment our lives could take an unexpected turn for the worst.
People in the United States from all different backgrounds have some sort of connection with Paris. The city is a symbol for romance, art and fashion. We all likely know someone who has traveled to Paris, or maybe we have been there ourselves. Next semester, I’m studying abroad in England, and I made sure that Paris was on the list of cities where I wanted to travel. There’s an Eiffel Tower statue that sits on the corner of my desk. Paris, like New York City, Los Angeles or London, has a strong cultural significance. It is a city people dream of getting to experience.
When the world found out about Paris, love and support went out to the victims. Many cities all over the world, including Raleigh and Charlotte here in North Carolina, had their tallest buildings shine the colors of the French flag. People posted on social media and shared pictures they had taken with the Eiffel Tower to show their support.
However, another group of people used the events in Paris as an excuse to prematurely voice their opinions on other topics, using this moment to voice their strong anti-Islamic beliefs. “Muslims” was the second-most trending topic on Friday night. People exploited the situation at hand to start conversations about why American media doesn’t care about terrorist attacks in developing countries. Some also chose this moment to say what is happening in Missouri is “not important” comparatively.
All of these conversations came up way too soon. The amount of lives lost was still being counted as people chose to speak out about these other topics. This tragic event happened, and immediately people exploited it to promote their own opinions and change it into something it wasn’t.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only tragedy to happen this weekend. In Japan and Mexico there were massive earthquakes. There was a funeral bombing in Baghdad. There were two suicide bombings in Beirut. All of these events are heartbreaking and deserve the attention of the media. But those mourning what happened in Paris were made to feel as if they were not equally as informed of the other events and that they should feel guilty because it meant they didn’t care at all. Even though there is a problem with what gets the attention of the American public and what doesn’t, people should still be allowed to feel affected by a terrorist attack in Paris.
At the end of the day, it’s not a competition for what tragedy is the worst. All of these stories concern lives that were lost, and as humans we can all sympathize with that. What happened in Paris reached the American public, and because of our close ties with Paris both historically and culturally, people responded with sadness. Stop trying to make me feel guilty for feeling sad.