Terrorism Here and Over There

Rafia Zakaria, writer for a Pakistani newspaper, says, “I’ve become adept at writing about bombings. Pakistan suffered 652 of these last year…”  She goes on to contemplate the response to the recent Boston bombing:  “Boston is no different, no more or less tragic than the bombings that have razed the marketplaces of Karachi, the school in Khost, the mosque in Karbala.  And yet it can seem so.”

Attacks in America are far more indelible in the world’s memory than attacks in any other country. There may be fewer victims and less blood, but American tragedies somehow seem to occur in a more poignant version of reality, in a way that evokes a more sympathetic response….Death is always unexpected in America and death by a terrorist attack more so than in any other place. 

It is this greater poignancy of attacks in America that begs the question of whether the world’s allocations of sympathy are determined not by the magnitude of a tragedy—the numbers dead and injured—but by the contrast between a society’s normal and the cruel aftermath of a terrorist event. It is in America that the difference between the two is the greatest; the American normal is one of a near-perfect security that is unimaginable in many places, especially in countries at war….  

Zakaria’s short essay covered some of what isn't usually covered.  Most coverage seemed to come from the perspective that only we suffer like this.  Other, less prominent coverage, offered no sympathy at all for Boston and implied the U. S. wasn’t entitled to be upset when other countries suffer so much more than we do.  Zakaria covers both perspectives sympathetically.  And, I want to add, so does my friend Rich.   Rich is a marathon runner himself who has been met by his kids at the finish line.  He writes about how painful it was to hear of an eight-year old boy killed in Boston.  But he adds this:  “That made me think of all the people in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and anywhere else where there's a war going on who didn't ask to be in a war zone.” 

There are many geographical and emotional reasons why it has been easier for me to relate to Boston than Syria.  These two writers gently remind me that the Boston bombing is a tragedy but can also be a bridge to empathy and concern for those suffering attacks outside our country.