November 27, 2008 Mumbai: the ‘real tragedy’?
The SMH is featuring a story about Brook Satchwell and others being trapped in Mumbai, and reporting the chaos there.
At the end though there was this quote, from an Australian woman who has moved to Mumbai to be married in 4 days and who has friends arriving for the wedding. She had this to say:
“They are targeting every suburb in this city but the most tragic thing is that for the first time ever they are targeting big-time foreigners and five-star hotels,” she said.
“There have been a lot of bombs in India and they normally target marketplaces and the poorer society but where we are at the Taj Mahal hotel, a historic hotel, they have eight foreign hostages.”
I understand the terror of tourists caught up in this, but is the most tragic thing *really* that they are targeting ‘big time foreigners’ and ‘five star hotels’. Would it have been less tragic if they had bombed the shit out of the market places?
I really do not want to diminish the terror these people on holidays are facing, the fear for loved ones, the stress of the situation.
I know that this is targeting Westerners, I know that being stuck there/having loved ones stuck there must be horrific and agonising. I’m not arguing that it is not a *different* situation.
But I’m not sure the ‘real tragedy’ is the wealth of the targets.
Tags: Australian's commenting on 'the real tragedy' of Mumbai, Brooke Satchwell, Mumbai, SMH reporting on Mumbai
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Fuck Politeness 
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bluestherapy
said
I surprised that you haven’t received the memo, FP. Brown people blowing eachother up isn’t a tragedy at all. It’s what ‘their type’ do.
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lauredhel
said
… oh my.
I’m hoping she was misquoted, or at least that she’s embarrased.
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apublicblogging
said
“I’m not arguing that it is not a *different* situation.”
I think I *would* argue that it’s not a different situation. It’s just perceived as being more tragic because people Like Us are involved.
That’s why the news stories always include the number of Australians effected.
“Time to be concerned people, because now there are actual proper humans being hurt”
Absolutely agree with blues; bombing and mayhem are what happen in all Those Other places, so We needn’t bother ourselves about it, except when our cheap holidays at other culture’s expense, are inconveniently disrupted.
This reminds me of McCain’s chilling comment during the election campaign:
“The poor are being effected by the economic instability BUT now the middle class are too”
I totally paraphrased there because I can’t remember the actual words he used.
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fuckpoliteness
said
I’m not arguing that it’s more tragic, just pointing out the specificity: the targets are clearly Western tourists. This is factually different in terms of who the targets are, and a new development particularly regarding the co-ordination of such a targeting. That’s all.
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fuckpoliteness
said
I have noticed that people are really reluctant to start having discussions of the politics of tourism for fear (I guess) of being shamed as UnAustralian/not caring. Feel free to do it here, but I do feel anxious about a barrage from outside the blog of our ‘terrible, horrible’ attitudes.
And I hear you APB, it makes me really anxious, the media coverage.
@ Lauredhel, yes, I was tempted to nominate that as Friday fuckwittery, but…I guess you’ve got 24 hours from when bombs blew up near you to say stupid things, then retract it?
And yeah, Albi. I got the memo. 😦 It’s bad, thinking through the level of shelter and priviledge that allows us to feel so shocked when this happens, because we’re ordinarily so ver safe and protected.
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fuckpoliteness
said
Bad in the sense of sad-making about the mess of the world, and white priviledge, not bad to do.
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apublicblogging
said
I’m happy to discuss the politics of tourism and if anyone labeled me UnAustralian about it I might even be proud.
I’ve actually been having this discussion and being labeled as just that, since the Bali bombing, and not because I don’t care.
I have a friend who lives in Bali and had just left the Sari Club that night, so I do care, but I’m really over hearing about my fellow aussies who exploit the economies of developing countries, some of them for years and years as is the case with Bali, and then crying when it looks like coming back to bite them on the arse a bit.
Permalink # The Seventh Down Under Feminists’ Carnival « Ideologically Impure said
[…] Not quite as mind-shattering but still enough to make you sigh/shake your head/scream ARGH at you computer, If women are “frazzled” they’re neurotic, says Tele’s Kevin Hepworth covered by Hoyden About Town, and Fuck Politeness is confused by Mumbai: the “real tragedy”? […]
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Nine Deuce
said
Jesus Christ. The coverage of this event in the US drove me nuts. A bomb going off on an Indian train or in a market hardly makes a ripple here, but this event turned every US news channel into the Mumbai News Network because a few honkies were involved. The underlying sentiment behind which is pretty well reflected in this woman’s quote. All I wanna know is, how does one qualify as a “big-time” foreigner rather than just a regular bullshit foreigner like myself?
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fuckpoliteness
said
I also wonder about the coverage insisting foreigners were ‘the targets’…so far I know two Americans and two Aussies died…and 172 ppl were killed (??) which suggests either that foreigners were not the exclusive targets right? (Feel free to correct me on the stats)