Facebook's "Pray for Paris" tricolour filter: BP.TF's thoughts?

[TheTruth]

I'm making this post for two purposes: First off, to state my personal opinions and views on the latest social media 'craze' wherein people apply a filter to their Facebook profile pictures. The filter is the French flag's tricolour. This is done to allow Facebook users to show solidarity with the victims of the Paris bombing attacks. 

 

My opinion: It's stupid. I personally did NOT change my Facebook profile picture to add the the French Tricolour filter. Why did I not do so? Not because I hate the French, neither is it because I support ISIS. No, those are not the reasons. I acknowledge that there was a tragic incident. BUT, are we saying that the lives of the French are worth more than the lives of those all around the world who are also just as victimised by terrorism? Beirut was attacked a day before Paris.. Where was the filter to support them? Like Beirut, there were so many more places and countries which are plagued by terrorism. /rant

 

BP.TF, I'm interested to know your views as well. 

 

 

 

[Supore]

 

All that has to be said.

[AFFIRMATIVE]

Because sadly its expected when people in the middle east are victims of terror, everyone knows that they have it the worst.

 

But France? a 1st world country that didn't had many attacks like this before? You cannot blame them for supporting a country that they feel closer to it than Lebanon. Everyone is aware of how bad the situation is in the middle east.

 

And by the way no one said that not having the french flag as your avatar means that you hate them or you are supporting ISIS..

[Don Quixote]

A decent amount of people I know use the filter, and a good amount of others condemn it. I personally didn't change mine because I have the same views as you, but I'm not going to look down on people who use it. Lots of people don't pay any attention whatsoever to what goes on around the world, so this would be a little more shocking to them. Sure, it doesn't do anything, but it's nice to see that people are actually paying a little more  attention to what goes on around the world and that we can have open discussion about these things.

 

On another tangent, many Prime Ministers expressed their condolences over the news. Their condolences won't change anything, but it shows France that they care and that they noticed. Same concept as with the flags. 

[Budi]

Personally I think it's a shitty argument to not show support just because it happens in other places around the world. 

 

That's like saying, we aren't going to condemn murders in our local cities or towns because they happen in other towns already. 

 

You don't have to show your support with a tricolor profile picture, but your reasoning is pretty flawed for why you don't. Either you're supportive of the French during this tough time no different than how many people were supportive of the USA after 9/11, or then why even say something at all? The fact you're coming on here to rant suggests an alternative issue. No one is saying that the attacks in the middle east or any other country on a daily basis are a good thing or that anyone supports them. If anything, you can blame the media for cherry picking the shock and awe stories that gather headlines. They only gather headlines because the masses actually tune in to watch those more than other stories. It's a sad cyclical cycle. 

[Woifi The Viking]

Oh its this again.

 

Why do people care more about France than *insert middle east (2nd world) or 3rd world country here* ?

Because in 2nd and 3rd world countries many people die daily, may it be through starving, terrorism or other causes. The news reported those things a lot, I've heard people dying in Israel/middle east for the past 20 years weekly at least. While it doesnt get any less tragic, the people start to get fed up with it, and the news just respond to that.

And then there is France, 1st world country, supposed to be save, people living in another 1st world country treat it like their own. Suddenly they realize that the terrorism doesnt stop in middle east, They are scared, they feel sorry for their fellow 1st world country people. They show support.

 

Yes I used lots of generalizations in this post, it may not be complete accurate or fair but you get the picture.

I hope you do understand now why people are putting that France Flag on their FB profiles.

[(ง ͠° ͟ل ͡°)ง]

I'm part of the anti-bandwagon bandwagon.

[The Veteran Eagle]

It's kinda better than nothing, anyway. It'd be nice if Facebook added flag filters of other countries that suffered from terrorist attacks, but since France is the only option for now, there aren't really any other options if you want to support the terrorist victims through this feature. 

[Professional Map Painter]

Remove kebab ISIS and this is no longer a problem.

[Дебра]

It's kinda better than nothing, anyway. It'd be nice if Facebook added flag filters of other countries that suffered from terrorist attacks, but since France is the only option for now, there aren't really any other options if you want to support the terrorist victims through this feature.

 

flag.im/en

[Sniper Noob]

Personally I think it's a shitty argument to not show support just because it happens in other places around the world. 

 

That's like saying, we aren't going to condemn murders in our local cities or towns because they happen in other towns already. 

 

You don't have to show your support with a tricolor profile picture, but your reasoning is pretty flawed for why you don't. Either you're supportive of the French during this tough time no different than how many people were supportive of the USA after 9/11, or then why even say something at all? The fact you're coming on here to rant suggests an alternative issue. No one is saying that the attacks in the middle east or any other country on a daily basis are a good thing or that anyone supports them. If anything, you can blame the media for cherry picking the shock and awe stories that gather headlines. They only gather headlines because the masses actually tune in to watch those more than other stories. It's a sad cyclical cycle. 

 

Exactly my thoughts here

[t0night]

relevant to this; i've seen a lot of stuff criticising the 'hipsterisation' of grief and reporting (i.e. hey i know about this tragic event you've never even heard of) but i think that's a stupid and trivialising comparison.

 

it's a good thing to bring to people's attention the fact that we constantly undervalue and under-represent the victims of these tragedies when they occur outside of the assumed safety of Western-style democracies.

 

 

if there were more options than france being officially pushed out by facebook i'd have no issue with the flag thing at all; i don't mind people trying to show solidarity if they believe it helps. personally i have not done it because for me i don't think it helps anyone. instead i'm just going to keep talking to my parisian friend over the next few weeks and making sure she's fine and finding out how the city as a whole is dealing.

[Squidling]

11/13: Never Baguette

 

On a serious note, I hate the fact that the country that cries the loudest gets the most attention, but then again I can't change anything so I don't really care

[Teeny Tiny Cat]

As with almost every topic on this forum, opinion seems very polarised for no particular reason. I think there's value in being aware of where our perceptions and subconscious biases come from, being aware of the massive amount of media coverage of terrorist acts targeting predominantly white countries vs in the mid-east and africa and why that may be, while also being aware that this is still a horrible, saddening thing that happened, and showing solidarity or expressing sadness or disgust is not a negative thing.

 

It's possible to think about and discuss why 70+% of my facebook friends have french-flagged profile pictures when maybe 10% are politically aware of how terrorism hurts thousands daily in poorer and less-white countries without much discussion at all, without admonishing the individuals who are just trying to be sensitive and show support with good intentions. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

[Tats]

"You reap what you sow."

 

When we support terrorism in other countries, it is a logical consequence.

French people pay for the criminal decisions made by their leaders.

 

Oh wait, French president Hollande decided to send the Charles de Gaulle aircraft-carrier to fight against ISIS.. never too late !

 

We should stop massive muslim invasion first. ISIS has sent up to 4000 agents in Europe. The terrorists attacks were perpetrated by just 15 terrorists, special french forces were overwhelmed by the simultaneous attacks. I let you imagine what 4000 terrorists (or more) can do in France and other european countries.

 

Many muslims (20% of muslim according to a recent survey, not sure) in France were satisfied by the Paris attacks and would support ISIS if they had the opportunity.

[Teeny Tiny Cat]

"You reap what you sow."

 

When we support terrorism in other countries, it is a logical consequence.

French people pay for the criminal decisions made by their leaders.

I... don't aggressively disagree with something Tats said... what is happening...

 

Oh wait, French president Hollande decided to send the Charles de Gaulle aircraft-carrier to fight against ISIS.. never too late !

... hmmm hang on...

 

We should stop massive muslim invasion first. ISIS has sent up to 4000 agents in Europe. The terrorists attacks were perpetrated by just 15 terrorists, special french forces were overwhelmed by the simultaneous attacks. I let you imagine what 4000 terrorists (or more) can do in France and other european countries.

 

Many muslims (20% of muslim according to a recent survey, not sure) in France were satisfied by the Paris attacks and would support ISIS if they had the opportunity.

... there it is.

[Jacobmeister]

Can't you change your profile picture to be other flags now, too? I thought I saw something about that. Either that, or Huffington Post is letting me down once more

 

I personally changed my picture to have the flag pretty much ASAP. I know I'm not helping in the long run though - it's just a profile picture at the end of the day. Some of you people are being far too dramatic over this filter thing. 

[Edvis_Knife]

http://i.imgur.com/e6EmMG8.png

[foxx]

Personally, I agree that people are trying to support France but the bad thing here is media is always showing that because France is a 1st world country. If I did a mistake, forgive me. Im not good at politics. 

[cąℓσceđrus ☁☽]

french lives are worth more

 

if you actually cared about other lives lost around the world you would do what you can including spreading awareness

[Auroz]

The way some people think here is stupid. "Hurr durr wont support France because you don't support Palestine"

So because it's war everyday in Arabic countries, you think it's okay to bomb France? No, it's not.

[cąℓσceđrus ☁☽]

The way some people think here is stupid. "Hurr durr wont support France because you don't support Palestine"

So because it's war everyday in Arabic countries, you think it's okay to bomb France? No, it's not.

 

 

the politically left wants to see the west destroyed, they welcome the death of westerners just as much as a jihadist does

 

the world is a horrible place filled with horrible people

[Kevin the Chicken God]

it makes a lot more sense for people in a first world country to care about an attack that happened in a first world city compared to an attack that happened in a 3rd world city, especially a 3rd world city that close to the source of the problems where logically more violence is bound to occur.

 

I changed my facebook profile picture to the flag thing because there isn't any reason not to, I've donated to the red cross to help with their efforts after the attacks but I didn't change my picture because I thought I was helping anything

[Keroro1454]

-snip-

Honestly Tats and Heated Bread were why I left the Politics forum, it got a little stubbornly absurd and I needed out.

 

As for OP, this is a similar argument to "Stop complaining, people elsewhere have it worse." While that statement is true, it shouldn't invalidate our own struggles, just put them in perspective. This can be applied on the broader scale of first world countries. We should recognize that other countries experience these horrors daily, but that shouldn't invalidate the suffering we underwent.

[Hyperqube]

BUT, are we saying that the lives of the French are worth more than the lives of those all around the world who are also just as victimised by terrorism?

If I may, in a sense, well, yes. ... well, kind of. Lets see if I can simplify the psychology behind it ...

 

 

Many (westerners) identify more with the people in paris (people who are living a 'normal' life, and suddenly an attack happens), then with people living in a warzone/middle east/...

The feeling "darn, this could have been me" is much stronger for them is stronger then for others

 

And because of that feeling, we're much more shocked.

 

 

 

When it comes down to it, Humans aren't cold machines, we're emotional beings - we're pack animals. And to the western world, the people of france are part of our pack, the people in beirout aren't

 

 

does this make it "right"? no.

does it mean we don't 'know' that their lives aren't worth more? no.

... it means, we're only human.