The press coverage of disaster and our innate determination to reach the end of humanity

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. 

Is Trump a good Christian man? What should we pray for? Where do we go from here?

How are you meant to look at the American political situation right now? As a Christian I mean.

Well there are the evangelical Christians who supported Trump. Those who are celebrating a control on abortion as God’s will. Those who celebrate the tirade against homosexuality, trans-sexuality, Muslims and the reminder of women’s place in society.

Then there are those sitting there looking at this situation and asking – is this God’s will? Is there any good in this man?

I am sure somewhere inside Donald Trump there is some good. His love for his children and his grandchildren is apparent. His keen business acumen could be celebrated. His obsession with the American worker could be worked as a care for those less fortunate.

But, at the end of the day, in my mind a Christian is defined by love. Yes the bible speaks of judgement and punishment, but not at the hands of other men, but at the hands of God himself. Trump is not God.

His love for others can be questioned. Does he love the Syrian refugees running for their lives? Does he love the Muslim countries he has just put border controls on? Does he love the journalists who were arrested? Does he love the animals who climate change will affect? Does he love the women who will die from unsafe abortions? Does he love the women who accused him of sexual assault? Does he love the disabled who will no longer be covered with Obamacare reforms? Does he love the children being taunted for being different after the rhetoric of his election campaign? Does he love his wife after the social media taunting? Does he love the people he posts mean tweets about? Does he love the other politicians in the world or see them as pawns in his game? Does he love his own daughter when he commented he was proud of her to “a lesser extent” than her siblings? Or does he even think about them at all?

Does he just think of himself? Is he egotistical? Has he created an idol in his own vision? This is the man who used charity money for portraits of himself. This is the man who has his name on every building he owns. This is the man who tweets angry remarks when someone disagrees with him. This is the man who funded his own presidential campaign. This is the man who ran up to the White House instead of holding his wife’s hand. This is the man who stopped organisations tweeting when they didn’t tweet the right remark. This is the man who accused the press of lying when they showed photos of his inauguration.

So does he has respect and honour for the position he holds? Since taking office, he has banned many state departments from using social media. He has spoken out against climate change and reduced funding from the US. He has talked about making America great again, but forgot that he could make the whole world great again. He has moved to build a wall alongside Mexico. He has stopped abortion funding. He has reduced funding for many Diversity boards. He has threatened war with China, indirectly. He has called his lies, alternate truths. He had rioters arrested and then released the man who stabbed an anti-fascist protester. He has said torture works and talked of reinstating it. He has made moves to reject Obamacare and stop the covering of pre-existing conditions. He has done many things, whether he has signed the piece of paper or these things were done under him, but it is his government and in turn his actions.

So is this man a good Christian man? Maybe he is but currently I see little evidence to support that. I really wanted to go through this article and think this man loves, he is not egotistical and he respects his position and the good he can do with it, but the evidence thus far does not show that. I see he shows little love or understanding for the majority of the human race. He seems obsessed with himself and his values rather than what is best for the country, or world as a whole. He seems to lie at every turn and twist the truth for his own benefit. He seems to back policies which segregate, punish and hurt innocent human beings and in turn animals and the planet.

So I hope that through the next year he can show a love to the world that he has shown to his grandchildren. I hope he can show the intelligence he has shown to his business empire to the big problems facing America and the world. I hope he can share the lack of prejudice of his daughters and spread that to all groups in society. I hope that he can be mature and stop tweeting when something doesn’t go away. I hope he shows respect to all those who deserve it, compassion to all those who don’t and becomes a good influence on the world. I hope that he cares for the world with all its differences and problems.

That is a lot of hope and when his actions thus far have brought about more comparisons to Hitler than to a Christian, it seems a jolly long way to go. So if I convert all of those hopes to a prayer maybe that’s a little step there.

So what else can a do a Christian do, when you look at these questions, these statements, the news, what can we do? I think we should stand up and show that he does not represent what Christians are all about! We should show love and support to the groups he is persecuting, whatever race, religion, gender or sexuality. We should pray that he is helped to do some good with his power. We should speak out when we don’t disagree with him. We should rally our politicians to stand up to him. We should extend a hand of friendship to the Americans scared of living under him. We should help fundraise for the causes which are now underfunded. We should ensure that his rhetoric is not normalised, or respected, or permanent. We should show that God made this whole world with all its inhabitants and not just one country, one gender, one race or one religion. Essentially we should love and show what being a Christian really is all about.