What Nigerian massacre?

Islamic terrorist organization launches deadliest attack in group’s history

The militant Islamic group Boko Haram strapped explosives to a young girl and forced her to walk into an open shopping area in a Nigerian town Jan. 3, leading the way for the radical terrorists to kill more than 2,000 people. This is a heinous crime, but I am not surprised if you have not heard about it yet.

horror — Boko Haram killed approximately 2,000. Google Images

Horror — Boko Haram killed approximately 2,000. Google Images

I am not surprised because I know that there are two ways to handle a tragic situation such as this one. We can repress it, as we often do, shoving it in our box of harmful memories and trying to throw it into the fireplace that will end it forever, or we can face it, challenge it and conquer it. It seems that in Nigeria, Boko Haram’s actions are being handled in the former way — their treacheries are being repressed or possibly even ignored.

Why is this? This is the question that I ask myself as I see the words “Charlie Hebdo” in bold-faced letters on nearly every news site. In Paris, 17 people were killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack Jan. 7, and it seems as if the world knows about it. If this news has spread like wildfire, why is it that the Boko Haram crime in Nigeria just four days earlier has not been mentioned nearly as much?

Considering this question, I asked multiple friends and acquaintances for their opinions on the Boko Haram situation. Their expressions were blank as they all said that they had not heard about it, but they had all heard about what was happening in Paris. One friend in particular had an opinion that caused me to think about the incident in a new light.

“I think that I haven’t heard about the Boko Haram crime because it seems that Nigeria is a place where things like this happen often,” David Shbeeb said. “I feel as though the world is more desensitized to it than they are to a terrorist attack in Paris.”

I agree with Shbeeb as he said that some places of the world are not as used to terrorist attacks as others. Yet, does this give us a right to be desensitized to the attacks in any place? It is heinous for us to ever become desensitized to crimes such as these, no matter where in the world they are occurring.

In his article “Nigeria’s Horror in Paris’s Shadow,” Matt Schiavenza noted that the difference in world reactions to the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the Boko Haram assault has to do with the governments of each place. France’s government is undoubtedly more effective than Nigeria’s, and this is shown by the way the leaders of each place handled the situations.

French President Francois Hollande responded to the Charlie Hebdo attack by calling for a unifying march against terrorism on Jan. 11 in Paris with other world leaders and more than one million people. While he handled this situation with surprising straightforwardness, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria gave a speech about the upcoming presidential election in Nigeria and did not say one word about the Boko Haram attacks. For this reason, he has seemingly lost the respect of many.

Perhaps Jonathan does not want to address the Boko Haram situation because it means he would have to face the tragedy instead of repressing it. Yet, it is necessary to face a tragedy even if it is a bit frightening for some, because it leads to what we all desperately seek — hope.

If I were a resident of France or Nigeria at this time, I would be searching desperately for hope, just as many Americans were after the terrorist attack of 9/11. We cling to hope and turn to our leaders for assurance, and this is what Paris and Nigeria both need — hope and assurance. Clearly, Hollande faced the attack
head-on and has given people hope, while Jonathan’s casual brushing off of the Boko Haram attack has caused people to become disappointed.

There is no way to truly know how to deal with a tragedy so great as a terrorist attack, but if there is one thing I know, it is that no terrorist attack should go unnoticed. Our world needs to fight for hope in these times when fear can so easily overcome us.

No matter the country, no matter the president or the strength of the country’s government, we all need to be reassured that we have hope — because we do. Hope is the common thread that binds us. The capacity for the collective human race to dream, press forward and rally together is unparalleled. In times like these, hope is
our anchor.

Diaz is an opinion writer.

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