Hearts and Minds, Wilful Ignorance, Racism, and Fundamental Values

First - this isn't really a work-related post. But it's a subject close to my heart.?Maybe it'll make you think about some things. I hope so.

(it's another post I found in LinkedIn's "drafts" folder....originally from 2015 and never posted)

I've worked in many places around the world and - as a result - have friends and colleagues on every continent. Sometimes I get a bit annoyed with how "The West" views the world.?

Hans Rosling's speeches address one part of that ignorance better than I ever could.?Here's just one.

My topic is about how "The West" really doesn't care about people getting killed in wars - even wars that the west is involved in - unless they're Europeans or Americans. Like REALLY doesn't care.

Similarly, terrorist attacks are more impactful on Western news and hearts if they kill some particular kinds of people.?Kill French people or Spaniards or Americans or British and people care. Kill Turks or Iraqis or Africans or Indians, nobody cares.

The excuse given is that those deaths happen far from Europe. But they don't always.?What if you massacre people you don't care about, but actually in Europe??

There was a stunning example of this recently. Statista, a statistics portal, and HuffingtonPost, a major news site, published a ranking of "Victims of Terrorist Attacks in Western Europe" per year since 1970.

You might look at the chart and think "yes, I remember those incidents".

But the single biggest incident is missing.

Yes. They left out the biggest one. Yes. The biggest one. Not on the list. Bigger than Lockerbie. Bigger than the Madrid train bomb. Bigger than the Paris massacre.

An entire Jumbo-jet blown up in mid-air. No survivors.

Here's a link to the one they left out. That's a link to the Wikipedia Article on Air India Flight 182

329 people killed in Ireland in 1985. But apparently not worth talking about because - after all - the victims weren't worth talking about.

Ask most Europeans and I'll bet they never heard of this massacre. Yet it happened in Ireland in 1985. Even if you ask people in Ireland, most will not think of it.

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