The Real Thing

[mamculuna]

I was thinking about the differences in how we perceive natural disasters as opposed to man-made ones. A terrorist act like 9/11, etc., is set up for maximum public exposure--the images that appear on TV and online all over the world are the real point. Since we get those images so clearly and so immediately, the event seems real to us. But the natural disasters aren't set up that way. The news leaks out, a little at a time. No one was filming the waves that hit during the Tsunami, and only now are we beginning to get some visual images that make it seem real to us.

But it is real. This is a site about one refugee camp before the disaster and the people who lived there. It makes it real to me:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ceret/52383.html

Comments

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the us and them. Maybe it's because I just came back from Asia or have so many Asian connections, but I am totally transfixed by this and have a huge need for information about what's happened and a compulsion to talk about what it means. After 9/11, the whole country reacted this way, but now, only a few do. It worries me, to tell the truth, that this seems so distant to so many.

[ironed_orchid]

To me, the internet seems to be filled with it, but maybe I am looking through my own lenses. I was pleased to see both google and amazon respond by putting links to aid agencies on their front pages. I'm glad to know the sort of people who do take notice and care.