Eleven days ago Lebanon experienced an unprecedented event. I plane departing from Beirut International Airport crashed just off shore killing all its passengers. No plane leaving from Lebanon has ever crashed before arriving at its destination.
The plane was en route to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and was carrying Ethiopians, Lebanese, Americans,a small host of Europeans and other Africans. I heard about this before I'd left India, but didn't give it much attention due to the attention on the earthquake in Haiti. Listening to world news in different parts of the world is an interesting enterprise. Every night since I've been here the news is completely filled with stories relating to the plane and almost nothing else. I've heard only a smattering of news concerning Haiti, and almost no other news of international concern.
In the sporting news, however, despite the fact that Lebanese people have NO IDEA what cricket is, or that it's even a sport, I was able to watch a big chunk of the Australia v. Pakistan ODI series. I've also heard quite a bit about the African Cup of Nations (Soccer) Tournament where Egypt beat Algeria and Ghana to capture to title for the third consecutive time. Somehow, Egypt gets a lot of attention in Lebanon, while I rarely hear about Algeria, Libya, or Tunisia. Go figure...
All things being held equal, the plane is far and away the biggest story here, while I'm sure Haiti is dominating most of the west's news. I've been hearing stories of families of young persons who perished in the crash, stories of religious leaders (from almost all of Lebanon's MAJOR religious groups) coming together for prayers and funerals. News about bringing in outside naval units from Europe and further to search for the black box and every other sort of story devoted to a tragic event. But it is really bizarre to have this be the dominant story after having heard nearly nothing but Haiti for a week beforehand.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment