Why the First World Barely Notices the Sudanese.
It’s not just that they are poor, it’s that they live in Sudan. And Sudan is seriously overlooked by the first world. But why?
By Antares and Patrick
       Recently, a friend of ours posted on her Instagram about how  the world seemed to barely notice the Sudanese massacre . We saw it and quite promptly laughed our asses off, since we found it funny that something so serious was not on the news by now. Then we asked some totally valid questions and one somewhat unrelated but still pretty valid one. Why did it take her pointing this out that we noticed? Why is it that not many people  actually care that much about the Africans but themselves? Why does no one here seem to care? Is our other friend’s father ever returning home from getting cigarettes? What applies do us more: the Sudanese or his father? (It’s his father, we don’t actually know any Sudanese.) We’re not being racist, we’re just wondering. In fact, the post that we previously mentioned was about how people paid more attention to the Notre Dame than the Sudanese massacre. Well many people asked, why? Why is it like this?
        Well our answer is simple: the Notre Dame seems more important to us than some Africans we don’t know. First of all,  it’s located in France, a VERY influential country that is the home of baguettes and choux pastries, the Eiffel Tower, very interesting history, and is known to be quite romantic. Oh and also it is home to the Notre Dame, which is very important because some VERY old dead guys built it (which goes along with the history bit). It has amazed people for many many centuries, and survived both the Nazis and the French Revolution. Many more have heard about it; it has been the setting of the iconic Victor Hugo novel, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and the even more iconic Disney movie of the same name. It has stood since the Middle Ages and is an epitome of the beautiful and intricate ways of French Gothic Architecture. It’s a perfect example of art and architecture coming together to create a wonderful landmark to be loved and cherished for years and years to come. Millions upon millions flock to it every year to admire the craftsmanship and beauty of this great structure. It’s wonderful glass windows, the realistic statues, the details in the architecture, and overall its presence has captured many people. It’s a place where many go to worship and find joy and make memories. It’s been the site of coronations in the past and vacations in the present.  It has been THE go-to destination for many romantics, history buffs, and so on. It’s in fact, considered the heart of Paris itself.Â
         Unfortunately, all of that would be cut short in April 2019, when it burned down and the main spire was severely damaged. This garnered massive amounts of media attention, with many describing it as a tragedy. And truth is, it is. That day, we lost an important piece of history; of our past. To lose such an important artifact that has stood for hundreds of years now is disheartening and sad, quite frankly. Billions of dollars were donated to help rebuild the structure. Many expressed copious amounts of grief, and this is perfectly justified. This building has brought them happiness and many others dream to someday visit it. Those who wish to return and those who wish to visit in the future won’t be able to fulfill their wish- while the cathedral is being rebuilt, anyway. Even so, it wouldn’t have the same wonder that the original would have had, since the century old building materials just have that sense of wonder that goes with anything that was important throughout history. So many knew and loved this marvelous structure, parts of which is now lost forever. No one was killed, but three people were injured. That leads us back to the original post.
       The original post stated that because of the Sudan massacres, there were thousands of casualties. However,  before we continue, let’s get some background on what lead to the massacre. In April, former President of Sudan, Omar al Bashir, was expelled from his position as, well, President. He was to be convicted of crimes against humanity, like genocide, but because of the lack of support from the United Nations, he was simply stripped of his position. Following that, protesters kept on attempting to create another military ruled government similar to Bashir’s. These protesters were met with brute force from the paramilitary, leading to the massacre. The paramilitary in question is called the Rapid Support Forces. They’ve teamed up with the Janjaweed, who are Arab militia that have been known for committing mass atrocities, such as genocide. In fact, in 2003, they killed 300,000 people. They were sent to silence the protesters, starting the Sudanese Massacre in question. Since the massacre, 500 have been killed, 723 have been injured, 650 arrested, 54 raped, 1000 missing, and 118 bodies were dumped on the Nile River. Several villages were destroyed, leaving many displaced. That leads us back to the question, “if all of this horribleness is happening, why do we not know about it?”Â
        The first world gets  most of its news from the media, which  is a business at its roots. It needs to continue making money and they way it makes money is from it’s viewers. So, as a result, they need to broadcast things that they think people would care about. The Notre Dame, in this example was more famous and well known to people than the Sudanese. Many people have admired the Notre Dame for centuries, it is an infamous landmark. And the country it’s in is also quite well known. France is a rich country and is also a very popular tourist destination, and as a result contribute quite a bit to the global economy. Sudan, on the other hand is a considerably less known country, and it is also very poor, so it doesn’t contribute quite as much to the global economy. That all goes for many countries in Africa. Also, France, like many countries from which the major news networks are from, is part of the first world. The fact that they are like us and we know them and relate to them helps us to sympathize with them more. If we have a connection to something, we have a tendency to care more, to be more concerned. So, in the eyes of the network executives, people know more about and relate more to the Notre Dame, so they are more upset more about it burning down, viewing it as a loss of an important artifact. They don’t know any Sudanese nor do some of them even know Sudan exists. For example, what if we were given  a choice to save 3 people or a member of our family close to us? We’d be more likely to struggle with the choice since chances are,  we are connected to our family and as a result, feel togetherness with them. Remember the other friend’s dad earlier? We are closer to him because we have a connection to him, since he is our friend, so we felt bad for him. We knew him on a more personal level than some Sudanese person who lived halfway across the world from us, so our emotional response was stronger towards our friend. Another less serious example is why the media seemed to gravitate more towards celebrities like the Kardashians or some drama between influencers. We knew about them more and as a result would be more interested in the story. The media needs to keep making cash, so they will continually spoon-feed us content that they think we’d be interested in so we would tune in more, giving them more money.Â
         And that answers our question, why does the media and the world seem to be more upset about a building than a mass genocide a world away? Because that’s exactly what the genocide is; the world away. The media at it’s heart, is a business, and it needs us to participate and watch it so it could make profits. So as a result, they tell us things that we know already so we are more likely to be interested. The more familiar a concept or object or whatever is to us, the more we connect to it. The more we connect, the more we care. And with the rise of the internet and modern technology, the media has more ways to dispel information and make money. Much of the modern world relies on the media to know what is happening. Chances are we won’t connect to something half a world away. So ultimately, it’s not that we don’t care. It’s just that we don’t know because the media uses our empathy to make money off of us. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We have the internet, we can bring awareness to things. The media uses algorithms, and if something “trends” or is searched a lot, not only will more people know, the media will be more likely to notice it. So, you, reader, have the power to help change things. Just think about it!