Does the media have a Western bias? Hundreds have died in a horrific natural disaster in central Asia. Yet critics say Western news sources could hardly seem less interested.
Hundreds feared dead in Afghan quake
Rescue mission: The magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit a remote part of eastern Afghanistan, making it challenging to rescue survivors. Comprehension quiz
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The word “patriarchal” in this context means:
A: A government that prioritises peace and aid
B: A system of society or government where men hold the primary power
C: A system where elders, regardless of gender, make all decisions
D: A government led by a monarch
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Which phrase is the closest synonym for “outsized”?
A: Disproportionately large
B: Historically ancient
C: Well understood
D: Fiercely debated
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According to the article, what percentage of British people were aware that Sudan is suffering the world’s largest humanitarian crisis?
A: 59%
B: 25%
C: 13%
D: 5%
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The philosopher Adam Smith’s example of an earthquake in China was used to illustrate which idea?
A: That a minor personal pain can feel more significant than a distant tragedy affecting millions.
B: That natural disasters are becoming more common over time.
C: That Westerners are not interested in China specifically.
D: That people in the 18th Century were less caring than people today.
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The article mentions a concept put forward by legal scholar Alonso Gurmendi. What is the two-word term used to describe areas where the West designates mass deaths as normal and acceptable?
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In your own words, summarise the two different explanations the article gives for why people in the West may be less interested in the suffering of people in countries like Afghanistan or Sudan.
Answers
Tap to reveal
1. B 2. A 3. D 4. A 5. "Bombable geographies" 6. One explanation is that our capacity for sympathy weakens with distance; we simply care more about things that are closer to us and easier to visualise. A second, more sinister explanation is that a biased global order designates some parts of the world as places where mass death is considered acceptable "collateral damage," unlike in the West.
Glossary
Afghanistan - A mountainous Asian country, slightly larger than France, whose neighbours include Pakistan, Iran and China.
Patriarchal - A society in which adult men have a monopoly on power. In these societies, men tend to hold all political positions, and women and children are also expected to obey the men in their families.
Taliban - A violent fundamentalist Islamic movement that enforces sharia law and denies education to women.
Queen Camilla - The second wife of Britain's King Charles III.
Civilians - People who are not in the army or the police.
Sudan - A country in northeast Africa with a population of 45 million.
UAE - The United Arab Emirates is a country in the Middle East, and the location of Dubai.
Humanitarian - People or views that advocate for human welfare
Adam Smith - An 18th-Century Scottish economist often known as the "father of economics".
Biases - Beliefs that systematically and unfairly distort a person's decisions, in favour or against one group or another.
9/11 - A series of terrorist attacks that took place in the USA on 11 September 2001. It is known as 9/11 as Americans write the month first, and then the date. The attacks killed 2,996 people. Many of them died when two planes were hijacked and hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, causing them to collapse.