Lauren: The first days after the quake, there was some really decent coverage of the earthquake coming out of Chile at lightning speed by American press like the New York Times, CNN, and the Los Angeles Times. Pictures of demolished cities, stories about how many displaced, dead, and great graphics of other parts of the world that would be affected. We were glued to our computer, checking to see how different areas of our host country were doing because American media was a good place to check what was going on in Chile.
Aneya: Ya, the first three days, every major news outlet was on top of it. Lauren and I were constantly refreshing the New York Times, the LA Times, CNN, even my AOL homepage had links for Chile on there. Picture after picture of devastation and loss, articles about the death toll and what Bachelet did and didn't do, what the US government was doing, how it was affecting the citizens of Chile. We don't have cable, so the internet was our only connection to the outside world, and we pounced on it, aching for news.
Lauren: But on Monday, the world simultaneously just stopped caring. It was like there was a pact between all major news outlets to reduce coverage, and it is just broke our hearts. It's hardly mainpage news. 800 people dead (probably more, we're told). Thousands displaced. More than 200 aftershocks since the first day, and everyday I hear maybe 10 ambulances. People are so stressed out that the Metro stations are having relaxation public service announcements. Right now, it's hard to come by non carbonated water or bread in Santiago, there was little hot water here, and that's nothing compared with so many who wish they had a faucet to get water from, and that's it? Three days? We were shocked. I needed to chill out and watch some clouds or something, because I was starting to feel like the mayor of crazy town.
Aneya: Ya, on Monday everything changed. You had to scroll all the way down the L.A. Times to get your Chile Earthquake updates, but at least they had them! The New York Times didn't even mention it on their front page, you had to go to 'World" and it still wasn't the top story. A couple soldiers were killed in Iraq? Um, okay 800+ people died here, the ones who survived are still struggling, still without food or shelter. Shouldn't that still be top billing? Even CNN, "the most trusted name in news" had no Chile overage on their front page. Lauren and I were both appalled by this.
Lauren: Every day I struggle reading El Mercurio, because they have the best stories. I guess it makes sense U.S. news doesn't care, though. People in the U.S. care what's happening to them, but an earthquake does irreparable harm to probably one of the best-prepared countries in the world and already the top stories are Paris fashion week, six dead in a bus crash in Arizona, oh, and Chelsea King.
Aneya: God, the narcissism of Americans never ceases to amaze me. But how many Americans died in Chile? None? They why should I care? Oh, how many Americans died in Iraq? Not how many innocent civilians, women and children were killed. We don't care about them. No, just how many of us. It's really amazing what makes the front page nowadays. It's really quite sad.
Lauren: Oh, Chelsea King. I hope someday these things all make sense to me. But one white girl dying at the hands of a 30-year-old sexual offender versus 800+ dead because of one of the worst natural disasters ever. I mean, I get it. She looks like us, she's white, well liked, killed by someone who maybe the system should have dealt with in a different way. OK, I guess that makes sense. But the amount of human suffering her death caused versus the amount of suffering here seems incomparable.
Aneya: The Chelsea King story is so typical of what Americans find relevant and important nowadays. A young, white rich girl is murdered and it's front page news! How many gang related deaths are there every day in LA? How many minorities die daily? How much coverage do they get? None.
Not only is the Chelsea King story incomparable to what's happening down here, it's just downright annoying. Now our parents are even more worried, not about an after shock killing us, but about a sex offender, prowling the streets of Santiago. We both assured them that's the least of our worries right now.
-- Aneya & Lauren
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