How come Japan gets better media treatment?

[DementedSheep]

Look I?m in NZ and have relatives down in Christchurch who have lost their homes and I have to say that our earthquake while terrible and allot of people died was NOWHERE NEAR as bad as what hit Japan.

 

[Zaik]

I remember reading that the earthquake alone in Japan was 100 times more powerful than the one in New Zealand.

That might have something to do with it. Also the damage in New Zealand is over, while there's still newsworthy crap going on in Japan so of course that's going to be the focus instead.

There's a reason for that.

The Buddhists and Hindus don't drown "witches" or fly planes into buildings.

I wasn't aware the average Christian or Muslim regularly engaged in those activities.

Silly me.

This is a nice little thing I like to call evasion. Easy to bury what a group has done when the banner they were flying is connected to everybody.

It's fair to say "Yeah, that wasn't us" but it was. Not you in particular, but the fact that so many have died at the hands of religion, while the hands of the Buddhists and Hindus are clean, should show something. It's usually the religion's fault for said events. When you live your life by a book that says certain groups of people MUST DIE because of not only their lifestyle choices, but sometimes because of things that are completely out of their control, that's going to be an issue.

Abortion and gay marriage are things that Christians like to pick on. Abortion clinics are blown up and gays are beaten nearly or sometimes entirely to death simply in the name of what they assume to be the will of their God, which seems to be a nice little excuse people use when they want to commit an atrocious act and absolve themselves of responsibility.

In the Middle East, women are stoned to death for showing their faces, adultery, and even being raped. Yeah, being raped is punishable by a gruesome death. Anybody who speaks out against Islam is threatened or killed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_%28film_director%29]

So tell me, is it really okay to overlook all of the death and misery religion has caused us just because "not everybody does it?" No, it isn't.

Religion, in essence, is alright. But too many people use Divine intervention to excuse some of the most historically gruesome behavior exhibited by people since our species arose. That's what makes it not okay.

I could retell the origin of the swastika versus what it represents today. That would be funny.

You could come back and say Hitler wasn't a Hindu or Buddhist(I wouldn't know?), but you're not talking about members of any given religion, just people who use their ideas and symbols to do harm.

Beyond that, I didn't really read any of the actual argument, just thought that bolded section was funny.

 

[Traun]

Okay, before the angry brigade fight me down, let me explain.

Before what happened in Japan, there was an earthquake in New Zealand. when I checked around some websites. Some hardly even mentioned it. But when the earthquake hit in Japan, these same sites are i an uproar!

"PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!"

Granted, the nuclear meltdowns and tsunamis made it worse, but did we know when this was going to happen when New Zealand was in jeopardy? No. Then where are the PRAY FOR NEW ZEALAND articles?

EDIT: Or GIVE NEW ZEALAND MONEY AND HELP ARTICLES. There. No more snarky comments on how prayers are useless, please. As much is that seems to be a topic here, it isn't the issue I want to address.

Yes it is somewhat unfair, truth be told I heard of the New Zealand earthquake through that of Japan, however you must consider that Japan is one of the biggest kids on the block and if anything happens to them everyone suffers, not to mention that this is probably one of the worst disasters in magnitude. Is it fair? No, not really, but it is kind of understandable, not to mention the whole nuclear crisis thing. In fact if you notice the media is blowing the nuclear disaster more than the tsuanmi or the quake.


Also, to all the super-cool 14 year old militant atheists - stop derailing the thread. This isn't about religion or religious practices, this is about a charity incentive called "Pray for Japan". But who am I kidding, why read the OP when you can attack certain groups of people.

EDIT: The irony is that everyone who is saying that we shouldn't pray but do something, would know that "Pray for Japan" isn't about praying, if they tried to do something.

 

[iDoom46]

THANK YOU! I was hoping there were people on the internet, other than myself, who remember the New Zealand quake that nobody gave two fucks about.

As you mentioned, Christcurch didn't suffer a tsunami or a nuclear meltdown, and the earthquake wasn't quite as massive.
The thing is, three simultaneous disasters is a really big fucking deal. Each one of these events, on its own, would have been a big deal, but they all happened in roughly the same time frame. The Japanese quake also has resulted in effects felt across the globe (the tsunami hitting Hawaii and the west coast of North America, and all the scares about radiation going around).

But those are just the reasons why its a big deal in the news/traditional media.
The reason it's such a big topic on the internet should be obvious by now:
1) The idiots who said the quake was "payback for Pearl Harbor"/ "God's judgement"
2) The weeaboos are upset that their animes won't be coming out on time. (and some of the ones who still have a soul are actually concerned about the people who actually make the anime)

 

[Mr. Mortiss]

For two major reasons.

1) The earthquake in Japan was much larger then the one in New Zealand (We're talking a 9.0 on the scale here. The New Zealand earthquakes only reached a scale of 6.2 or somewhere near that.). Couple this with the Tsunami that has threatened coastal towns and the Nuclear Power Plant problems, and you got yourself a disaster that will leave a lot of people dead in the next couple of weeks. Everything about the Japan disasters is on a much larger scale then the New Zealand earthquake.

2)Because the Ally forces have war guilts about the bombs, even though only America dropped them. Hell, a lot of news stations in the states are talking about Hiroshima and Nagasaki more then whats going on now.

That all said, the main reason is pretty simple, Japan is a lot cooler and easily recognizable in the eyes of the media.

There's probably also the reason that there aren't many brands of recognition based in New Zealand, while Japan has quite a few (Toyota, Nintendo, Sony, etc). That, and I don't think I've ever bought or seen something with a "Made in New Zealand" sticker on it.

 

[Aurgelmir]

Okay, before the angry brigade fight me down, let me explain.

Before what happened in Japan, there was an earthquake in New Zealand. when I checked around some websites. Some hardly even mentioned it. But when the earthquake hit in Japan, these same sites are i an uproar!

"PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!"

Granted, the nuclear meltdowns and tsunamis made it worse, but did we know when this was going to happen when New Zealand was in jeopardy? No. Then where are the PRAY FOR NEW ZEALAND articles?

EDIT: Or GIVE NEW ZEALAND MONEY AND HELP ARTICLES. There. No more snarky comments on how prayers are useless, please. As much is that seems to be a topic here, it isn't the issue I want to address.

They get more coverage because the outcome was a much bigger catastrophe. Sure it is not good when anyone suffers, but you know whatever sells news..

Also Japan has that Power Plant going crazy.

 

[cthulhumythos]

Is Atheism the "cool" thing now?

yes, in the same way Christianity was the "cool" thing back during the great awakening.

 

[godfist88]

cause this is the worst quake yet, and we could be next.

 

[Nahhnbah]

My christian friends are praying. I'm starving because I sent my £60 fortnightly shopping money to Japan. Rather I starve for two weeks than they die needlessly. They said I shouldn't bother to send money, since prayers (I'm an atheist, so you understand) would be more efficient and usefull.

Who has helped more here?

 

[Etherlad]

Granted, the nuclear meltdowns and tsunamis made it worse, but did we know when this was going to happen when New Zealand was in jeopardy? No. Then where are the PRAY FOR NEW ZEALAND articles?

I'd say both were getting pretty much the same attention in my part of the world. Australia had obviously quite a lot of attention for New Zealand and still has because of the proximity, so what you are really asking is "Why does US-Media care more about Japan than New Zealand" and the answer is quite obvious proximity and attention-span (no this is not a ALL AMERKUNS R STOOOPID HUUUURRRRR). People generally care more about people and places they are familiar with.
That's also why people in the western world generally don't give a fuck about the rising number of deaths in the Sudan for example or why Haiti is pretty much forgotten already.

 

[Sarge034]

Was the one that hit you all a 9.somethin? If so, did you have 30-50 (i forget how many and can't be botherd to google it) nuclear reactors ready to go and take half the world with them? No? That's why.

PS prayes don't help.... U mad? U jelly? Haters gonna hate.....

 

[Spud of Doom]

As a New Zealander I can say that we have had all the international help we need really. The remaining Australian support is fine. Most of what is left to do is reconstruction rather than rescue or relief. Japan's situation is FAR worse. They really do need it so much more than we do, and I think the majority of NZ agrees. We have sent relief teams over to help them, so this isn't really an argument that needs to be had.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

there's also the fact that the Japanese earthquake was substantially more severe. Not to downplay the christchruch quake, but we're talking a factor of 10,000 in terms of difference in relative magnitude.

-m

The difference in magnitude is 1000 (base 10 log of 1000 yields 3, the approximate difference in magnitude reported). The actual energy released was, according to the relevant equation, 31,000 x greater. Of course, I do not know what scale the figures were reported in as the richter scale (upon which my post is based) has been superseded (apparently) by a new system who's details I am far too tired to look up.

-EDIT-
The difference on the scale was 2.7 which only equates to a difference in magnitude of ~500 and a difference in power of ~11,000. So your numbers were quite close.

 

[silversnake4133]

I'm guessing you don't listen to the radio much do you OP? Cause it was a pretty big topic on the station I listen to. And they even had a donation service up and running for those guys. Oh, and the tsunami in Australia, there was a donation service set up right here on the Escapist. Here's the thing though...in Japan, nuclear reactors are in danger of going kaboom if people don't monitor them and help to cool them off. And if they go off, it could possibly mean that the immediate countries near Japan and possibly the rest of the world would be in big trouble. I just heard this morning that Japan has asked for help from other countries to keep these reactors at cool until they can find a way to stabilize them.

Now, here's what I don't get, why are you getting all bent out of shape about this? Are you jealous or something? Okay, here's how the news works, they report on stuff that will affect a huge amount of people, that's why "local" news stations are usually situated in the nearest city because more people live there. Japan is getting a lot of press because it is a major country in the chain of command. It's a highly developed civilization that provides a lot of other countries with electronics, entertainment and culture.

New Zealand probably didn't get as much press because it wasn't a major catastrophe where thousands of people died. Not only that, but it didn't provide a large enough threat to any other country but themselves, (except for Australia,) and the only big Australian press that seems to reach my country's shores are usually dealing with terms of censorship. Japan's quake caused for dangerous conditions that would affect other countries in the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, and the West coast of the U.S. So yeah, the news is paying more attention to Japan because more people will probably listen to/watch it.

 

[wooty]

Maybe its just because its still part of the British commenwealth, but I remember seeing a lot of stuff about the Christchurch quake.

But the overriding difference between the 2 disasters is just how much more devastating the Japan incident was. If it was just the quake that hit Japan, then there would be nearly nothing to report about. Its just the sheer scale of destruction caused by the tsunami which is far more serious than New Zealands incident.

 

[Wintermoot]

Is Atheism the "cool" thing now?

nope its just that praying doesn't help that much.
things like sending money/supplies/help works better then praying to a deity that MIGHT not exist(I,m not saying that there is no god I,m just saying nobody really knows if he/she/it really exists or not)
PS
also JP is on the brink of a nuclear disaster (even if the plant weren't to explode it would still emit high quantities of radiation into the atmosphere)

 

[Alon Shechter]

ololololol praying doesnt help ololololololololo

Trying to be a troll aside, it's probably because of the severity of the disaster, as well as Japan being much more "famous" than New-Zealand.
Japan is something odd and strange in the eyes of people who were never there, which means a lot. There are never any movies about New-Zealand's beautiful open spaces because... Well, It's a more common thing.
With no offense to the open spaces of New-Zealand that made LOTR so amazing for me.

I think.

 

[FamoFunk]

I agree with most of the guys in here.

The Japan Earthquake also caused a Tsunami and the power plants are going to shit, as much as I feel for NZ, Japan have it a lot worse.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

It think this is worth posting

I would also say that the japanese earthquakes were way more destructive. Its about the statistics.

Why do all the atheists voicing this opinion think the only thing we do is pray for them? I donate money to relief efforts that my church makes worldwide with great regularity.