Do We Care More About a Dead Lion, or Dead Children?





By Joe Clifford





July 31, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - What a strange and frightening world we live in. We shed crocodile tears for “Cecil”, the preserve lion of Zimbabwe who was killed by a sport hunter in a very unsportsmanlike way. It got the attention of all the media outlets, and we even had one late night comedian in tears for our friendly lion Cecil. Meanwhile not a whimper, care, or tear, for the little baby who was burned alive in his home as Israeli settlers set fire to his home this week. We all know Cecil’s name, but no one knows the name of the dead baby. We shed not a tear for 135 civilians including 75 children of Palestine, killed in what Amnesty International called, “a day of carnage”, after its investigation of the vicious Israeli attack on Gaza in 2014. Not one tear.



It was the great former War correspondent for the NY Times, Chris Hedges, who said: "I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport", as he described Israeli soldiers kill children. No tears. Not even worthy of mainstream media’s attention.



Who cares about the mess the US has made in the Middle East by bombing everyone and killing well over one million people in Iraq. Who cries for the 650,000 innocent Iraqi children who died because of the brutally imposed US sanctions on Iraq? Certainly Madam Albright, the then Secretary of State, did not shed a tear when asked if the deaths of 650,000 children was worth it. She casually answered, with not even a trace of one tear, “Yes it is worth it”. Any tears for the 194 Iraqis who were killed yesterday? Nah; not even worth media coverage, let alone tears. But Cecil’s death is another thing.



Either we are a very strange people with very confused human emotions and priorities, or mainstream media focuses on superficial things to divert our attention from the real issues of the day. For the sake of mankind; I hope it is the latter.

Joe Clifford lives in Rhode Island

Why We Care More About The Death Of A Lion Than A Thousand Dead Children



By Rebecca Greig

July 31, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - " IBT " - Do you prefer pets to people? Even, or especially, when those people are your family? Does your adoration of our furry-footed friends extend to animals big and small, the fierce and the docile, the wild and the tame?

You’re not alone.

Recent research suggests that people are twice as likely to give money to save a dog than help a dying child.

Cecil the lion is no exception. The unlawful killing of the big game animal in a Zimbabwe safari park led to worldwide condemnation.

Jimmy Kimmel, a prominent U.S. talk show host, just about cried on TV.

Cecil’s killer, a Minnesota dentist with a whiter-than-white smile, is reportedly in hiding after his identity was revealed. Dr. Walter Palmer’s Yelp review page has since been flooded with furious threats.

"Nothing in this world would give me greater pleasure than to see your head mounted on a wall, your carcass defiled, degraded and paraded as you did to Cecil and near countless other animals," wrote one person.

The death of a lion, especially one that has been killed illegally, is unwelcome and unfortunate, but is it a tragedy?

One person dies from armed conflict every minute - the number of deaths from road accidents is double that. Every day around the world an estimated 21,000 children die from the consequences of poverty -- that’s one child dying every second from hunger, preventable diseases and other related causes.

Four million newborns are dying in their first month of life and half a million women die every year from childbirth and pregnancy-related complications. Since Syria’s civil war began four years ago, more than 220,000 people have died.

The death of Cecil has captured the public imagination in a way that thousands of dead Syrians hasn't. Why do we care more about the death of a lion than a stampede of shootings, stabbings, gang-rapes and torture?

Is it, to use Joseph Stalin's oft-quoted phrase, that, “one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic?”

Or is it something more?

Humans can watch news of whole families obliterated in times of war, and put the thought to one side as they go to eat dinner. But if a beloved pet dies or a partner goes off with someone else tears and recrimination can last for months.

There’s a logic to this way of thinking.

People can only cope with so much suffering, the rationale goes. We are most affected by those close to us, stories we can relate to, animals who ask nothing more of us than food and affection.

But there may be another factor at play.

It wasn’t just any old lion that died -- it was Cecil — a man among lions, distinctively maned, and the subject of an Oxford University study. A safari park official called him “an icon,” but he was more than that -- he was a celebrity.

Every year, Americans kill 360 lions -- a Cecil every day -- where are the tears for them? Where is the outrage?

Rich American tourists kill hundreds of lions each year, and it’s all legal http://t.co/cLrMsPZdzW pic.twitter.com/lUTbCzgt9q — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 29, 2015

Cecil has a name. He cannot be forgotten unlike those other, nameless, lions.

Dr. Palmer, a long-time hunting enthusiast, did not regret killing a lion but he regretted killing Cecil. Speaking to the Star Tribune, Dr. Palmer said, “I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite.”

This is the heart of the problem - if you’re killed, it helps to be a celebrity, whether human or beast.