An Australian student has died from a mosquito bite (dengue fever), after spending her holidays in the Philippines. Sad as this is, why does the death of one compatriot make headlines when hundreds of locals suffer and die from the same illness?
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singwell-is off researching a lot
ANSWERS: 2
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Familiarity breeds contempt. People in the Philippians are used to it and think of it as normal. Australians are shocked by it so it makes headlines. The same would be true in America and Europe where Dengue Fever is unheard of.
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I think it's because people think "she's one of ours" and they feel the loss a bit more. It happens here, too. You hear on the news: Seventy people in [someplace distant] were killed by a bomb, including two Americans. Their names were John and Jane Doe. You almost never hear about the other people, but you'll hear a bit about the Americans. It's sad, but people die all around the world every day. If I hear international story in the mainstream news, it's usually because the story is really bizarre or there are Americans involved. The newspeople may feel that they have to tell the stories that people can relate to in some way, and people feel like they relate better to their own countrymen than people from other countries. Maybe it's true--I wouldn't be very surprised. I hope someone else answers this because I'd like to know why this happens. I didn't know they do it in Australia, too.
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