Bet you won't hear a "We Are The World" remake for this one, America.

Today I was skimming the headlines, and something caught my eye.  No, it wasn’t a story. It was a little red icon with the medical cross under the Yahoo! logo on their homepage. I hovered over the icon, and the text block “Pakistan floods: How to help” popped up.

[I’m not going to explain the destruction, but I do suggest clicking the links below if you haven’t heard about the flooding.]

Timeline of monsoon damage in Pakistan; July 29, 2010 to August 12, 2010. (Credit: The Dawn Media Group.)

Details on flood destruction, based out of Lahore, Pakistan; August 17, 2010. (Credit: NY Times)

An non-American call-to-arms regarding flood damage, and a ray of hope to end the reign of religious extremists on the reputation of the Middle East; August 17, 2010. (Credit: BBC)

Oh, but I figured if you're too lazy to click the links, I'll leave you with this caption:
"The floodwaters cover an area of Pakistan the size of England."
That's over 50,000 square miles of newborn lakes.

Anywho.

Of course, I started thinking right then [which is NEVER a good thing], and I started getting more and more pissed. I remembered the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and the earthquakes this past year in Haiti and Chile, and not to downplay the terrible aftermaths of all three, but honestly, what the hell? Why, all of a sudden, does the media turn its head when Pakistan’s hit with a massive monsoon?

Why else; we’ve been told to. Ask your average Joe on the street what he thinks of the Pakistanis, and you’ve got a frightening percent chance that he’ll say “Damn towelheads.” The American media has been turning its head on this issue because we’re in a fucking war with the people, and people establish their discriminatory basis on the exceptions to the rules. Your people are dying, and all you have to say on the subject is the fact that the exception to the rule has threatened national security? [By the way, the guys responsible for the 9/11 attacks were based in Afghanistan on a majority basis, not Pakistan.]  I’m really pissed, personally, that people don’t care simply because we’ve been told not to.

I’ve been having a conversation today with a few people about all this, and we’ve delved into deeper matters than just racial discrimination. This issue could be a pretty acceptable poster child for the fact that these days, people just don’t give a fuck about other people. And the worst part is that everyone accepts this. It’s like, “alright, everyone’s biased, and so my racism in the grand scheme of things is socially acceptable. It’s okay, right? It’s just a little bit. Even if it's true, well, no turning back, might as well just accept it and BE racist.” On a broader scale, I hear groups of people talking all the time about how the world sucks so bad, and everything is SO awful. People say that humans have a progressive nature, but toward what? A BETTER world? Not exactly, try a better self.

I guess in short, I personally can't admit that the world is awful, because I feel like the minute I do, I've given up on it. I’m not a humanitarian, and I’m certainly not the most caring individual to ever walk the earth, but when people are dying and others just don’t give a shit.. I notice.

End rant. Spread the word about the monsoons in Pakistan, because I guarantee you know more than one person who hasn’t heard.

-CS.