Do you know one of the things that makes me sick to my stomach - our lack of coverage of developing countries. There is only ever one narrative to hit our screens - of everyday suffering; but when something pivotal happens - an earthquake, a flood, a year without rain - that doesn't even make the cut.
The way that we dismiss disasters that do not happen in the West is unfortunately inevitable. It didn't surprise me that disasters were happening and I had absolutely no idea.
This summer alone - the floods in South Asia, the famine in East Africa, the mud slides in Sierra Leone; yet the press seem fixated on the floods in Texas.
I am not saying the floods in Texas are not horrendous, but I believe that all human life is sacrilegious. 44 people have died at the hands of Hurricane Harvey. That is 44 people who had families, lives, dreams and desires. Yes that is horrendous but sometimes we need to put it into perspective.
The death toll of the South Asia floods currently stands at 1400; over 30 times that of Texas. I am not saying that we should just judge disasters by the death toll, but it does raise a question - how has this disaster gone uncovered?
Sierra Leone raised a similar question only a month ago, with 1000 dead but little coverage in the world press.
Maybe East Africa should not even be raised when Action Aid has said that more than 16 million people are at the brink of starvation; or their reminder that 250,000 people died in just one famine in Somalia in 2010.
Is it that we think that Western lives should be more valued, or that our press judges them closer to home?
If we look at the facts - in a post-fact world - Texas is 4900 miles away from London, while Somalia is 4100 miles away. So actually we are closer to 16 million people starving than the Texas floods. Maybe it is the closer culture - but my experience of Africa seems as centred around Apple and Nike as the UK. Maybe it is just the inherent racism that seems to run through our society - infecting us like a disease.
So I have a question - should we let these atrocities go unnoticed? If we have learnt anything in the past few decades, the past few years even, the press seems to dictate the will of the people, and in turn the actions of our politicians.
Our prime example could be Brexit; or maybe Diana vs Charles could raise a few eyebrows. If we continue to let the press dictate the make up of our own personalities, our own decisions, our own view of the world - where are we actually going to end up?
A society which would take wealth over substance?; materialism over compassion?; beauty over brains?; drama over duty?; fiction over fact? Or are we already in this new version of the world with our obsession of Kardashians, Love Island's collaboration with companies using cheap labour. increasing inequality? Have we already allowed our humanity to be eroded?
If we changed the world - if we actually looked at the each life as having the same worth. If our press covered these disasters with equal ferocity, would we view International Development differently?; would Racism cease to be a thing?; would Climate Change become more of an issue?
We saw earlier this year a rampage of terrorism attacks. Manchester and London to name just a few. But utilising fact again the four terrorism attacks which killed more than 100 people in 2017 occurred in Syria, Afghanistan and Libya. I barely knew these existed yet pride myself on being well-read.
Should we even mention the atrocities the UK could actually be responsible for? Afghanistan - in tatters, Iraq - a quest for oil, Yemen - UK-supplied weapons at the hands of Saudi Arabia, Syria - destroyed by sponsorship by the giants of the West.
How does the press cover these issues? Barely.
Until we actually acknowledge for some unbeknown reason that in our society we care so little for some countries in the world that thousands dying isn't worth printing, we will never actually make a difference.
If we can so easily ignore catastrophies in a world, how will our government feel inclined to actually help them? If we dismiss a country by its position or history, how will we ever view it as anything other than a developing country? If we allow some peoples lives to matter more than others, how will we ever strive for world peace?
Maybe this big question should be - if we can ignore another human's suffering, to the point our press is so blase in covering it, have we lost the essence of our humanity?
Every human in this world strives for love, health and happiness. Everyone can feel pain, grief and loneliness. We are all human and until we can truly believe and understand that - our press and our politicians will do little to support it. In my view, until we can hold every human life in equal value, until we demand our press does the same, until we can get over this innate arrogance, self-obsession and selfishness, we will continue to go along this path of self-destruction to the end of humanity. That is not a goal we should be aiming for.
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