No More Gawkers: When Will We Forget About Japan?

I'm sitting here in Argentina, landlocked, about as far away from the seismically active Ring of Fire as a person can get. I am not directly affected by the destruction on the other side of the world, so I watch the news.

And I can't help but wonder when we'll stop talking about Japan.

Every media outlet is reporting every new shake of the ground, showing photos of bodies being pulled from the rubble and posting videos of enormous waves engulfing the coast of Sendai.

But when will we forget?

When is the last time Haiti made the front page? Have the effects of last year's quake been mitigated? Is Chile fine? Indonesia? Peru? What about New Zealand? The earthquake in Christchurch happened less than a month ago and are we still talking about it?

Yes, some people still are. In fact, my list of to-do for this week includes preparing two blog posts for Matador Life about Christchurch for Blog4NZ, a grassroots blogger effort to bring support to the area. Pisco Sin Fronteras, a Peruvian volunteer force set up through Burners Without Borders, continues to work to fix the damage from the 2007 earthquake that destroyed 80% of the area.

But you don't see it in the news.

What do we see in the news?

Last night, one of the Matador team e-mailed around a video of a woman, supposedly from some religous group, thanking God for the earthquake. Apparently, they prayed for a sign from God to teach the athiests of the world a lesson.Personally, I think this video is a hoax. That doesn't make it any less disgusting.

And I am proud to say that Matador, without hesitation decided not to post the video even though it was on the cusp of going viral. Even though publicizing it could have brought in huge hits and publicity for Matador. We would have been the first to post it but said no. 

Since last night, Gawker published it as have other media outlets. I'm proud to say that I'm part of a media organization with integrity.

What does Gawker hope to gain by posting this video? Is it helpful? Does it bring attention to a story that people need to hear? Is there any reason the people of the United States need to watch a video in which a young woman goes on and on about how happy she is for the destruction we're seeing all over the news?

It reminds me of how after September 11, as two massive plumes of smoke poured upward from the once World Trade Center, we heard reports of people all over the Middle East dancing and celebrating. The news reports, too, remind me of that time. It brings back painful memories.

It makes me sad and anxious. It pisses me off badly. 

Yesterday, my friend Mike Lynch, who lives in Okinawa, posted wildlife photos he's taken in Japan. He posts them because he cannot look anymore and urges that we all wait patiently as rescue efforts continue and Japan takes stock of the damage done.

What Japan doesn't need, I can tell you.  They don't need Uncle Bill cleaning out his yard sale collection to send over as a charitable donation.  They don't need some major pharmaceutical company to write off a big donation of drugs with an expiration date of next month.  And they don't need anymore news reporters, cameramen, travel writers or anybody else going after the big story.

No more gawkers.

I think that says it all. Mike goes on to say:

We need to let those on the scene do their work without clogging up their transportation and logistical systems.  They will ask for help where and when it is needed.

It is human nature to show sympathy and want to help those in distress, I know.  I want to help, too.  We just have to be patient if we really want to help.  Wait.

I only hope by that time, the rest of the world hasn't moved onto something else.

Photo by jchong

Comments

[Daniel N.]

Honest and true post Leigh.
The focus seems to shift every time something new and catastrophic appears somewhere else in the world. Hundreds are getting killed in Libya, whole cities in NZ, Peru, Chile and other places are struggling to stand up again but the media focus shifts.

We only look at what the media wants to show. And humans seem to have short term memory.

[Ken]

I respectfully disagree with the suggestion that we do nothing and wait to be asked for help. We have been asked for help collectively. The best way to help is to give money to a respectable charity, the funding from which can help bring in medical supplies, food, rescue workers, shelters, and transportation to get them to needed areas. The following charities collecting specifically in aid of victims in Japan all are rated 4 stars on Charitynavigator.com and use over 90% of collected funds toward relief.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
https://www.jdc.org/donation/donate.aspx

Int'l Rescue Committee
https://www.rescue.org/donate/japan?ms=ws_ircz_jpn_zzzz_ts_1103zz

US Fund for UNICEF
https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=9640&9640.donation=form1 <https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=9640&9640.donation=form1>

Direct Relief International
https://secure2.convio.net/dri/site/Donation2?idb=1410902648&df_id=1700&1700.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=7b90md4lv3.app245b <https://secure2.convio.net/dri/site/Donation2?idb=1410902648&df_id=1700&1700.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=7b90md4lv3.app245b>

Convoy of Hope
http://www.convoyofhope.org/go/headlines/entry/en_route_to_japan

Americares
http://www.americares.org/whatwedo/emergency/japan/japan-earthquake-tsunami.html

Now some might say that Japan isn't necessarily the neediest place for charity. That may be true and if you use this occassion to give charity to another worthy cause you deserve just as much moral credit. But right now they have our attention because of the acuteness of the situation, so if that attention motivates people to help those suffering, that's a good thing.

[Leigh Shulman]

Hey Ken,

Thanks for this addition.

If you read Mike's article in it's entirety, you'll see he goes on to say that when donating money, make sure the place you're giving is reputable. So your links are doubly useful.

Mike's quote is pretty specific, though, as to the type of help he says must wait. Charitable donations aren't one of them.

I'm glad you said something so I could clarify.

[Erica]

Thank you Leigh for this freaking fantastic post.

While I we wait all I can say is that I am overwhelmed that some very good friends of ours are safe and as long as I know that, we can start from there. When they need our help, they will have ours. Japan has a piece of my heart and I ache thinking about how things are right now.

[Barbara Weibel]

Thanks Leigh, for letting us all know that Matador is an organization with integrity and high morals. Only wish there were more around like them.

[Dan Knudson]

(Please re-post)

Here is an organization who engages in cultural and personal terrorism.

Type "gawker outs cia officers" into google and you will see that this drug-user tabloid takes pride in playing a game of exposing undercover intelligence and law enforcement officers, an act which can cost those officers their lives. Not the sort of game America should tolerate. These people are un-American.

The staff of Gawker have publicly admitted that they were hired to attend the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and sabotage the corporate exhibit booths in violation of the law.

This tabloid, Gawker Media, makes it's name out of being the first to show corporate prototypes. The staff of the tabloid try to get ahold of workers at technology companies and seek to influence them to lose "iphone" and other prototypes in public places where they can pick them up. Law enforcement believes that Jason Chen, Adrian Covert and Joe Brown, of Gawker, work together on this effort. The San Mateo Police Dept. has kicked in their staff's doors. Gabby Darbyshire of Gawker threatened to use legal and political intimidation to stall the San Mateo police department investigation.

They hack into phone systems and servers for their "scoops".

A hacker group has made a great showing of its recent break-ins to law enforcement computers. This group has deep roots and members around Gawker Media. Law enforcement suspects that at least one of the three names mentioned previously are members of this group.

The IRS is looking into a report that Nick Denton hides his money offshore and evades taxes with foreign accounts.
http://slyoyster.hypervocal.com/newsandpolitics/2010/why-nick-denton-is-an-asshole/

http://boycott-gawker-and-gizmodo.weebly.com