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It's not really that tenuous though is it? Paris is closer to my home than large parts of northern Britain and I (and many other Londoners) feel a closer connection to it.
I haven't added it up but the number of people I know who were in Paris at the weekend must be in double figures. I don't think I was being a 'tragedy hipster' to be concerned for them until I knew they were OK, especially as some of them were in the 11th at the time.
It is absolutely understandable to care more about places that are closer to you and with whom you have more connections. This isn't some hierarchy of giving a shit, but as you say a very human response. People aren't an infinite bucket of caring - our emotions are complex, finite and limited.
I'd really like to go to Beirut and I'm sure if I had already been I'd feel a deeper connection to it, that's completely natural.
Do I think there should have been more of a response to the attacks there? Yes.
Do I think that it's natural there was more of a response to the Paris attacks in the UK? Also yes.
Fox-
So much this.
Also, I am one of those people on FB complaining about people complaining about the tricolour filter. Not because I disagree with the idea that we should empathise with all of humanity, but because quite a bit of the backlash I saw took the form of "YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT PARIS BECAUSE YOU'RE IGNORANT AND YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT LEBANON BECAUSE YOU'RE A MASSIVE RACIST!!!!1111", which is frankly a load of bollocks and should be called out as such.
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I don't know what you think I meant in what wrote, but maybe re-read it.
1) I didn't call it tenuous. 2) I never addressed you or your relationship to anyone in Paris. 3) I never said anything about people who had, or may have had, friends involved. 4) I never said it wasn't understandable. In fact I think I said the opposite - I called it natural. 5) I said nothing, nor did I mean to insinuate, anything about tragedies anywhere else. My point stands for those as well.
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bang on. i don't see how it is a crime to feel more sympathy for your neighbours, or for those closer to you, rather than those that aren't.
is it that black and white that you have to express sympathy for absolutely every single tragedy ever or none at all?
jimmy_james
BRM
People have a natural inclination to be part of a tragedy. This is obviously easier when it's something/somewhere one has some connection to (not matter how tedious - "Oh my god, I visited that place when on holiday two years ago! This really hits home!"). It's both an incredibly humane response, and a incredibly tasteless response. It's best if those who don't feel obliged to intellectually put themselves in the frame of mind of victimhood and tragedy - but obviously still empathize and feel saddened by what has happened - ignore those who do. Nothing good can come from calling out someone for expressing sympathy.