Boston coverage shows skewed life values

Source:Global Times Published: 2013-4-17 23:58:01

The world has been hit in the past few days by disasters such as the Boston terror attack, Baghdad bomb blasts and the earthquake near the Iran-Pakistan border. The latter two have led to the deaths of dozens of people, while the Boston bombs, resulting in three dead, have caught the most attention. The media didn't miss a single detail of the attack, which differ greatly with the Baghdad bomb blasts and earthquakes in Iran and Pakistan. Some have lamented the fact that lives of Americans seem to be the most valuable.

People are born equal. This is the highest consensus reached by mankind. However, respect for life in the media appears to have different grades.

This is only one aspect of unfairness in the world. Fairness within a country is hard to realize even with the rule of law and constraints of morality. With anarchy becoming the belief among different countries, promoting fairness is more difficult.

Unfairness among different countries has become fixed in the world order. The US is the world's power center. If we compare the world to a small society, the US is a high-ranking official, capitalist and superstar rolled into one. The attention it gets is incomparable to what ordinary people get.

The interest the world showed toward the Boston attack is disproportionately high. One reason comes from the fact that how the US further defines the attack will test the US' national strategy during President Barack Obama's second term. If the US makes adjustments, the international political focus will shift in the near future.

The national interest is the collective manifestation of the interests of individuals. Under global competition, it also safeguards individual interests.

The dignity an individual enjoys as a result of his nationality is the most peripheral part. This holds water only when his country is in a stable situation.

China has not fully achieved stability due to a number of wars in modern times. As China rises fast, it has been pushed to the forefront of international politics. Many uncertainties will test China's fate. If China loses the battle, the environment its individuals live in will change in an instant.

After the Boston attack, the Washington Post published an article on Chinese web users' reactions to this accident. This is because China's national strength raises the importance of its individuals. Currently, China's civil affairs get more coverage in the world's mainstream media, the significance of which overrides the affairs themselves.

Indeed, humans are born equal. But this great doctrine has never been practiced in reality. China needs to achieve its rightful position in the world, and ensure that fairness is realized within Chinese society.



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