Selective Sympathy

In light of recent horrific events occurring in the Gaza strip against Palestinians, there has been a huge social media uproar about the issue. People are demanding governments to take action. But today I only talk about us, the Pakistanis. Most of the people I see on social media are in solidarity with Gaza and I applaud the effort, I applaud our unity and I applaud our concern. Every little effort counts.

  

But with every tweet and Facebook post there are hundreds of those who beg to differ and ask whether the deaths in Gaza are the only things that matter and whether we have forgotten about our very own IDPs, Shia Killings or the people who die every day in Karachi.

From this the question arises, is one life more precious than the other? Don't all deaths mean the same? The answer is no. And we have known this for some time. The death of the rich matter more and poor are left to fend for themselves, it's the sad truth and we have come to accept it as a given in society. 

But what irks me are the people who scream that we should not talk about or help the people of Gaza but instead talk about our own IDPs and the various other issues that the Pakistani society faces everyday. 

My question is why? Why can not we talk about both? Are we afraid of diverting our attention? I simply fail to understand this logic. I've seen a million tweets like:

 'Jab IDPs ki madad nahi kar saktay tou Gaza k logon ki kya karo ge?' 

(If you can't help the IDPs how will you help the people of Gaza)

Or

 'Jab Shia aur Karachi wale mar rahe thei, tou tumhara pyaar kahan tha?'

(When shias and Karachiites were dying, where was your concern?)

Even if, let’s assume we are completely ignoring our own country’s problems. And concentrating on those of Gaza, does that mean we actually stop spreading awareness about what’s happening there? Just because a person is ‘allegedly’ not doing anything for his own country, you stop them from doing good for someone else all together?

There was uproar for each of these issues and there still is. Yes, maybe the issue of Gaza has been more highlighted and brought to everyone’s attention but that does not warrant hate targeted against those who are trying to make an effort, no matter how small to help the Palestinians.

My point is only this; every life is equal. It may not be so in society but it is in my eyes. So when someone tweets about bloodshed and death and is trying to raise awareness in their own small way, it is utterly nonsensical to accuse and guilt trip people about being negligent of issues close to home because in my opinion there is pretty much space for both.