#Analyse #AnalLies

I would like to start this editor’s note with something I learned a long time ago in my reasoning class. One of the (few) things that have managed to stick to my brain is when my teacher told me, “Just because we have never seen a green swan does not prov

Hold on to that sentence; we’ll come back to it shortly.

It is beyond me how people manage to bicker with each other over whether it is acceptable to mourn for Paris. Apparently the fact that more than 100 people lost their lives isn’t good enough a reason.

There were many fancy online graphics stating things like, “Oh please, many people were killed in Lebanon and no one says a word. You’re all hypocrites”, or “The French colonised other countries! How can you forget that?” Don’t forget the standard response to every single piece of news in Thailand — “You never care about the killings in the Deep South, but you care about this?” This latter comment is seen in most of the news I read online, from that regarding Por Trissadee’s illness to international tragedies.

I assume the writers of statements like these have never bothered to check the #PrayForLebanon hashtag on Twitter, read international news websites or go to Wikipedia, which also lists the recent bombings in Lebanon. The New

York Times reported the incident on Nov 12. Was that written by “no one”? As my teacher said, just because you have never seen it, don’t assume “no one says a word”. And for the love of God, don’t turn your unfounded accusations into Facebook graphics just to get a few Likes.

True, the scale of coverage is vastly different between the Paris incident and the ones in Beirut and Syria, but it is a misleading exaggeration to say “no one” cares. Besides, is now really the time to be calling each other hypocrites? Compare mourning for Paris and calling strangers hypocrites — which one sounds worse?

Spawning bitterness is so easy these days, and that’s probably as scary as terrorism itself. People offend each other, get moody and offend more people. If you so vehemently fight with your friends over changing the colour of their Facebook profile picture, I can’t imagine how you get through other life crises.

We say a lot of things every day, and it is impossible to include everything we care about in every sentence we utter. Don’t over-interpret; if I say I like doughnuts, that doesn’t mean I don’t like croissants. It just means I like doughnuts. Do not get other pastries involved in that statement.

Before you “analyse”, remember the word is somewhat homophonic to “anal lies” for a reason. That might discourage you from offering opinions on every single thing.