Opinion: Eyes off Nairobi

As devastating as the attack on Kenya’s Westgate Mall was, it tends to only serve as another example of how Americans lack a worldly perception at times.

Yes, major networks did take some notice. Yes, they gave the story air time. But did anyone pay the least bit of attention?

It’s too easy to ignore news like this when it’s surrounded by stories of bombings in Pakistan, suicide attacks in mosques, shootings in the marketplace, and violent crime that happens domestically in cities like Chicago everyday.

Who cares when it happens in Nairobi, Kenya?

Americans can talk about these things and encourage dialogue for suggestions to solve problems.Thinking that there is nothing anyone can do gets us all nowhere. Everyone is guilty of ambivalence. These are times for reflection as much as anything. What can one do?

Some estimates put the death toll at nearly 80. Six Kenyan soldiers who responded to the attacks and bravely operated to remove the Al-Shabaab terrorists were confirmed dead. Nearly 200 were left injured. Several of the attackers were killed, and a manhunt continues to find more.

Details have since emerged of a woman called “The White Widow,” who is believed to have played a hand in the attacks. In the British tabloids, there seems to be much more interest in the White Widow than in the heroes that this event created or the positive stories that have come out. While it is in the world’s interest to know about the faces behind the attacks, this attitude of “us first” pervades Western culture and sways what stories are published in the Western media.

And this will hardly catch the everyday American’s attention. It has come to be expected. But if Americans, or college students, are unwilling to talk about the whole story, what can they expect for the future in which no one cares when massive losses of lives take place?