Why Did the Press & Political Establishment (But I Repeat Myself) Only Begin Caring about Boko Haram When They Began Kidnapping Girls?

Good question.

When they were slaughtering other children -- boys -- our press and political establishment (but I repeat myself) seemed rather not to care.

This focus on Boko Haram from both the media and the government is an unqualified good. The press arguably increased the pressure on global governments to do something about this backwards group of terrorists. But Boko Haram is not a new phenomenon. It was not long ago that some – including this author – were asking why this group’s atrocities were not generating any attention in the press.

On February 25, between 40 and 59 children were killed by the fundamentalist militant group. Early that morning, Boko Haram terrorists attacked a boarding school and shot many of children, aged 11 to 18, while they slept. Some of the students were gunned down as they attempted to flee. Others had their throats slit. In some buildings, Boko Haram militants locked the doors and set the building alight. The occupants were burned alive.

All of the victims were boys. Reports indicated that the young girls the militants encountered were spared. According to the BBC, the militants told the girls to flee, get married, and shun the western education to which they were privy.

Beyond wire reports and a handful of segments on globally-focused outlets like NPR, this atrocity went unremarked upon in the popular news media.

February 25 was not Boko Haram’s first atrocity. By March, more than 1,000 people had been killed in the country’s northeast since the first of the year. Prior to Boko Haram’s shift in tactics, from wholesale slaughter of young men to the kidnapping of young women, the group traveled from village to village where they killed children and razed buildings with near impunity.

I would imagine the answer is fairly simple: The boys and other victims were not in The Victim Class. They were usually Christian -- which is officially an Oppressor Class and not a Victim Class at all. Thus the media and political establishment blesses Boko Haram through silence, as you can't victimize an Oppressor.

To even discuss such a thing upsets the principle paradigm through which all global events are viewed: Victim Class righteous, besieged, and to be defended at every step; Oppressor Class evil, privileged, and to be attacked at every turn.

To confess that someone in the Victim Class might actually commit oppressive barbarism, or that someone in the Oppressor Class might be himself victimized, is to undermine the hideously-stupid Narrative the political elites and the press (but I repeat myself) have constructed to control the masses.

The one wrinkle is that it is girls now who are being victimized, and girls are part of the official Victim Class, and ergo, the Narrative is not offended by noticing the actual facts of the world.

posted by Ace at 02:33 PM

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