The Chilean mining incident has taught me a great deal about global issues and how the world responds. It has been demonstrated through this event as well as others that the world is much quicker to respond to occurances that capture their interest. A notable example is the earthquake disaster in Haiti. This event recieved a substantial amount of attention from the media and public. However, the death toll and destruction during the flooding in Pakistan transcended the destruction in Haiti. Nevertheless, Haiti recieved apprecitably more aid, and attention. It is not about the magnitude of the disaster, but what is interesting, exciting, and can make money.
It is unfortunate that poverty and starvation do not recieve the same amount of publicity as the mining incident. This is mainly due to the fact that the story of the miners is very intriguing and unique. Whereas, starvatin is a daily occurance. There can be movies, and books based around the mining incident because it is a unique occurance that will interest the public. It essentially a quick and efficent way to earn money.
I think that people definetly get excited by stories like this one where there is the possibility for a joyous outcome. Haiti received so much attention because they are the single poorest country in the entire western hemisphere. Pakistan likely received less attention because most governments dont want to stir the pot anymore than it has already been stirred in the Middle East. People would rather hear about a happy ending than an unhappy one. And people get scared when thing happen closer to home. And people are less interested when something happens on the other side of the world in a region that is considered dangerous and unstable and has a great deal of animosity directed at it. The way we focus our attention on issues like these can be rather shameful, but we do it all subconciously and it is in part the fault of the media. After all, which story would you rather hear/read: "Happiness fills the air as 36 men who were trapped underground for 10 weeks are reunited with their families at last" or "hundreds of thousands dead due to flooding"? Notice how not only is one happy, but it is given a much more appealling and interesting title.
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