And yes, grief is much needed for everyone, especially those personally affected by the incidents. Be it the families or those lives taken, the survivors who are probably now also having to deal with the trauma, those whose friends were in that theatre, and the rest of us, who do not think that this was at all necessary, and are choosing to send prayers/love/support to the victims.
On the other hand, while all this is said, I find it truly distasteful and in fact, rude, for anyone to call out on another for also turning the gaze on events that have been occurring either before or simultaneously alongside the Paris attack.
Take.. this article for example:
Unfortunately, if you were to follow the article, you won't really be able to say whether or not the Malaysian actress Wardina Safiyyah (who seems to be penalized here) really said something "distasteful". However, if we're basing it on what the writer says here:
"Wardina Saffiyah’s Official Page instead highlighted the instances of people dying in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine who are not given as much attention. "
(con't) Whatever the actress had said was (from how I see it) a way of her saying "hey, these tragedies are happening too. Why aren't we acknowledging/ talking about them?"
For this to be deemed as "distasteful" and that whatever Syed Nizamuddin Sayed Khassim had to say "deserved a standing ovation", just breaks my heart.
It's so easy to jump on the band wagon and ask the humanistic question of "aren't these people human as well?" But let's be critical on ourselves here... When we start pinning down and defending only one group of victims, we're not really doing anything. In fact, we're only acting out on our biases. When we do something like this, we're not really caring for victims as humans, we're merely picking and choosing who we're crying for.
And sadly, while, yes, he does have a point. You don't say things like that at a funeral, not anywhere, not even in any given situation. But, when you write an article, calling someone distasteful, and giving a WWE smack down to get our protagonist to realize something, and only AFTER, dyou say "let's also take a moment to acknowledge the other victims in other war zones/attacks", your after word holds no meaning.
It reminds me of when someone is about to say something that you're not too keen on listening ie:
You're about to get fired. Your boss calls you in, compliments you on everything you've been doing, thanks you for all the great things you've helped the company achieve, but ends it with a "how should I say this" and resumes by firing you. Everything that he had said leading up to those last words of your exit would mean nothing.
And this, kinda feels like that.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not the best advocate in bringing news in regards to every attack/ war that's taking place in the world. If I were, I'd probably already be hired to be a journalist by now (I digress). In many aspects, I am rather unqualified to say anything cuz like I've been told "because your ONE opinion is what only matters" (sarcasm, by the way, if you couldn't tell). However, I do say that order of these events aren't important. Yes, that day it was Paris' day to mourn. But everyday, on a daily basis, even when Paris was happening, people in a war torn country are facing the atrocities that Paris witness that one fateful night. All in all, I see no harm in which the Malaysian actress (whose comment on the incident I still am not able to see) is also crying out for a gaze in their direction as well.
On a side note, if we're kinda doing what was suggested, in mourning for the next attack, by now, we should be in various countries and bringing attention to things regarding all the places that have innocent victims losing their lives. But, from what I see, quite a lot of us are still kinda stuck on Paris. What does that say about us?
#whereisthelove gais?
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