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NEW DELHI: The impact of the brutal attacks in Paris that killed 129 people was felt on social media, as users woke up Saturday morning to friends having checked in “safe” using Facebook’s “Safety Check” feature and others embossing their profile photos with the colours of the French flag as a measure of solidarity.
The response, however, led many commentators to question the selective grief, especially as just a day before the attacks in Paris, the city of Beirut had witnessed one of the worst acts of terror in years as militants killed 49 people.
"Hey Facebook can we get a Beirut color option also for profile pics," tweeted comedian Sanjay Manaktala, referring to Facebook’s option to change to a temporary profile picture that was embossed with the colours of France.
Facebook user Kartikëya C Khanna asked rhetorically, “Dear Facebook… is it a bug?”
Others wondered why Facebook did not activate the “Safety Check” feature for the numerous other attacks across the world, in Beirut and elsewhere.
Several commentators and users pointed to the fact that there was a disproportionate amount of attention to the Paris attacks.
"Let us not forget, 43 people died in Beirut and 200 were wounded on Thursday," singer Bette Midler tweeted.
Indian blogger Karuna Ezara Parikh’s poem, asking people to remember Beirut and other scenes of attacks, went viral.
“I woke this morning deeply disturbed by the news from ?#Paris?, but more amazed by the attention it received on social media. I understand Paris is a beloved and familiar space for a lot of people, but it troubled me that ?#Beirut?, a city my father grew up in, had received so little attention after the horrific bombings two days earlier. It also troubled me that ?#Baghdad?, a place I have absolutely no connection with, received even less attention after the senseless bombing that took place there last week. Worst of all, I found the understanding of the refugee crisis skewed and simplistic. If you've been following the journeys of the people leaving their homes around the world right now, perhaps you'll understand why the words ?#SyrianRefugeeCrisis? are just as devastating as ?#PrayForParis?. It's time to pray for humanity. It is time to make all places beloved. It's time to pray for the world,” Parikh wrote in a post accompanying the poem.
Author Shiv Ramdas echoed a similar view as Parikh’s, drawing added attention to the fact that the attacks do not represent an “us versus them.”
Several users highlighted the fact that refugees -- as Europe deals with a refugee crisis and moves to increase intake -- should not be blamed or linked to the attack.
