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I guess it's a bit easier (for many) to relate to the victims in Virginia, if only because most of us know what American college campuses are like, what being a student in one is like, even perhaps what being a professor in one is like. I have an easier time imagining it's me in that terrible situation. On the other hand, the life of an Iraqi living in Bagdad or Tikrit, facing such threats day in and day out, is much further from the life experience of most of us here, so, easier to keep in the abstract.
But, you're right, that's a terrible imbalance. The one situation shouldn't diminish our horror and outrage at the other. If we could somehow gain a better sense of what life is like for these people, gain a gut level empathy with them, it would surely make a difference. Right now, it takes considerable effort just to learn the most basic facts about those who live in Iraq. They are very much "other." I hardly watch any television at all, so I don't know if much or any effort has been expended to present the citizens of that occupied territory as real people.
I guess my reactions to these two things differ in their emotional quality (can't do much about that) but objectively, one situation is now finished and can't be changed (though we can make efforts to prevent it happening again). The other situation is ongoing, continually atrocious, and presumably correctable. (Though opinion varies on how that will be achieved.) No answers here, but I appreciate the perspective, iSm.
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