Weighted Lives

Sometimes I ponder myself why some events seem to be overrated. I mean, about 3,000 people died in the World Trade Center attacks, and media says it is the worst disaster ever. Meanwhile, there was a civil war in Sudan, the bloodiest war in recent history, with death tolls approaching 2.2 million people, in a 20 year period, and almost nobody knows it. The Katrina hurricane killed less than 2,000 people, but got much more media coverage than the 2004 Tsunami in Southeast Asia, that killed 230,000 people. And even then, the media makes it look like the most affected people were the poor Western tourists who were searching for a safe haven after the "tragical" WTC attacks.

So I ask myself: Does a westerner worth more than an african, a latin american or an asian? No, of course, but the media, and the complete ignorance of the average Joe makes it seem so. And I think that's one of the reasons (and the consequences too, I see some realimentation there) why there so much hate, so much stupidity and so little mutual understanding... Humans suck!