Do You Know How Many Bombings Occurred in Past Three Weeks?

I was comparing homicide rates between Egypt and the U.S. when a link to the New Year’s Day Alexandria bombing distracted me.  These are often the news headlines scrolling across the bottom of the screen because a celebrity’s drug of choice either makes for better ratings or is cheaper for a network to cover.  And then… like a blink of an eye…the news is gone.   A child is dead, scattered bloody clothes…and yet…dinner conversation is on Lindsay Lohan and American Idol.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll talk sports and iPhone apps all day long but, like others, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about International policy and World News.  What’s disturbing is when I bring up a bombing and the reaction is …”No, I didn’t hear about that.  Hey, have you seen Black Swan? ”  It’s as if they just turned the TV channel.  Just completely disconnected from reality.  Like … real reality TV.  This isn’t a complaint, it’s an observation.  I respect humans think differently.  I find our thought patterns and differences absolutely fascinating.  I like to think about what emotional vehicle someone rode to get to their present views.  But…when someone responds to death like it’s spilled milk…I think it’s weird.  Weird being a very polite way of saying Narcissistic.

So, as I watched Egypt’s live stoning-to-death coverage I couldn’t help but wonder…do bombings happen so frequently that we tune them out like a neighbor’s car alarm?  Are we sheltered from the coverage by glittery distractions?  Do we shelter ourselves?  Do we have a death toll or time limit threshold?  Meaning…does the fight have to last a certain amount of time or is there a certain number of deaths that need to occur before we tune in?  Do I have a headache?  Yes.

Either way,  several bombings have occurred in the past three weeks and hundreds of people have died.  Car Bombing Kills Nine, Police Office Killed, Supermarket Bombing, Funeral Bombing, Moscow Airport Bombing, Pilgrams Killed, Pilgrams Killed (different), Police Centre, Alexandria Egypt Bombing.  I didn’t exactly do an extensive search so it’s highly probable there were more.

I blew off the homicide rate comparison but from what little I read…Egypt’s is low and the US is high, low and medium depending on the source.  No word if the UFC is recruiting in Egypt but there’s increased speculation that the sky is falling.  Ugh, time we go to the mattresses.