Friday the 13th, six sites in Paris, France, were targeted by three well organized teams of terrorists. The attacks left at least 129 dead and many more injured says National Public Radio. The attacks are tragic, and it is important to support Paris; however, the wall to wall media coverage of the attacks in Paris have left some wondering about other countries going through similar issues. It seems unfair that Paris is getting all the attention while countries like Lebanon get few stories about their hardships.

There is something to be said about how Beirut, Lebanon, has been, and is still in an active war zone, but comparatively has not gotten the same amount of attention as the Paris attacks. The Paris attacks were the worst attacks in the city in decades. This means that the Paris attacks were more of a shock to the world. Still we are  hearing about everything that happens in Paris, but no top story on the news is about the suicide bombing in a public market in Beirut. The attacks were both very similar, explosions in public places in large cities both believed to be carried out by Islamic Extremist groups.

USA Today said, “In both cases, the extremist group took the lives of civilians with an inhuman ferocity and without discrimination. But what came next set the two cities apart.”

In the wake of the terrorist attacks that happened less than a day apart, the world spread its sympathy for France. Facebook allowed Parisian users a feature to help them find each other, while the rest of the world was given a feature to change their profile picture to have the French flag transparent over their own face to show support. Large cities across the globe lit up their monuments with the French flag (even an office building in the Denver Technological Center was lit up). Large cities held vigils for the victims in Paris. It seems not a lot of people outside of Lebanon was worried about the attacks there.

I am not saying the support for Paris is a bad thing — it is important to support other groups of people during their times of suffering, but we need to recognize all groups that are going through hardship. Both of these attacks need to be in the public’s conscious not only for sympathy’s sake, but also for the issue of world safety. These attacks were believed to be carried out by the same extremist group, ISIS. If this is true then we need to be wary of their power and the threat that they pose. ISIS needs to be a large blip on our proverbial radar.

Other than Paris and Beirut there have been violent protests in South Korea and terrorist acts occur on a frequent basis in the Middle East. The media may touch on these events, but these people get no where near the amount coverage or support that Paris did. We need to show support for all of the world’s hardships and continue to monitor the groups that commit these crimes.

See other students opinions on the same issue:  http://rangeviewraiders.info/?p=3028