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PAGE 4<br />

MONDAY,<br />

OPINION<br />

Shannon Sweeney Caitlin Wolper Sara B. Cudemo<br />

Editor in Chief Opinion Page Editor Business Manager<br />

NOV. 16, 2015<br />

Terrorist attacks in Paris no more<br />

or less important than others<br />

All you have to do<br />

is hit “Try it,” and<br />

your profile<br />

picture is covered by the<br />

French flag.<br />

That was <strong>Facebook</strong>’s<br />

response to the terrorist<br />

attacks in Paris this past<br />

weekend. There was no<br />

shortage of statuses<br />

declaring support either.<br />

And then rose the<br />

opposition, citing attacks in<br />

Beirut and Baghdad,<br />

disasters in Japan and<br />

Brazil.<br />

The question was: what<br />

should we care about<br />

more?<br />

Should we be angry<br />

there isn’t a Lebanese or<br />

Japanese flag to impose<br />

over our profile photo?<br />

There is no hierarchy of<br />

importance when it comes<br />

to a variety of places that<br />

have been attacked by<br />

terrorists.<br />

If anything, the media is<br />

more likely to cover an<br />

attack in a location like<br />

Paris where there are<br />

OUR VIEW<br />

We can’t rank the importance of natural<br />

and human disasters’ media coverage<br />

against one another.<br />

likely several news outlets<br />

stationed as opposed to in<br />

Lebanon.<br />

We must remember that<br />

tragedies are just that:<br />

tragedies. We can’t ascribe<br />

more importance to one<br />

than another.<br />

It’s important to be<br />

actively seeking out world<br />

news. Even when events<br />

get less coverage, it doesn’t<br />

mean people shouldn’t<br />

know about them. It’s not<br />

difficult to follow another<br />

country’s news source on<br />

Twitter.<br />

That’s not to say that<br />

news sources shouldn’t be<br />

covering every event, but<br />

as citizens, we do have a<br />

responsibility to seek out<br />

news even if it’s not<br />

immediately visible.<br />

It makes sense that<br />

France has a lot of media<br />

coverage. France, one of<br />

our closest allies, was<br />

supportive after 9/11, so<br />

the United States is acting<br />

in reciprocal support.<br />

After all, reciprocal<br />

support is important.<br />

Changing your profile<br />

picture to support France<br />

is a nice gesture.<br />

It doesn’t belittle Beirut<br />

or Japan or Brazil to<br />

support France.<br />

Don’t get mad about one<br />

issue being covered more<br />

than another.<br />

Just stay as informed as<br />

you can, and keep in mind<br />

that no matter how you<br />

react, terrorism is a<br />

worldwide problem that<br />

clearly isn’t getting better.<br />

Branden Camp/Associated Press<br />

Cynthia Fleck holds a drawing of the Eiffel Tower as a peace symbol during<br />

a rally in Atlanta on Sunday, Nov. 15.<br />

Paris<br />

FROM Page 1.<br />

Library at 8:45 p.m. to study.<br />

Adjacent to the library was<br />

the National Museum of Modern<br />

Art, where she and her family<br />

had cheerily mocked<br />

postmodern art during a<br />

vacation six years prior (a<br />

painting that consisted of<br />

nothing more than a solid blue<br />

canvas was a particular source<br />

of amusement).<br />

The library closed at 10 p.m.<br />

She moved to a Starbucks to<br />

continue studying. The streets<br />

were thronged with young<br />

Parisians making their way<br />

through the city: just another<br />

Friday night.<br />

When the Starbucks closed,<br />

she walked to Gare Saint-Lazare<br />

station to study some more.<br />

She checked her <strong>Facebook</strong><br />

feed. Someone had posted about<br />

an ongoing terrorist attack. She<br />

read more: three confirmed<br />

attacks, explosions outside a<br />

soccer stadium, a death toll that<br />

kept climbing. Sirens wailing.<br />

Streets awash in red and blue<br />

lights. Hostages held at<br />

Bataclan theater, less than two<br />

kilometers from the library<br />

where she had studied.<br />

She decided to go home.<br />

The 11:40 train to the suburbs<br />

was packed. Friends called and<br />

texted and <strong>Facebook</strong>ed her,<br />

asking if she was okay. She sent<br />

a message to her parents on<br />

WeChat, telling them she was<br />

safe.<br />

The messages kept<br />

pouring in.<br />

Her frère, via <strong>Facebook</strong>, at<br />

1:14 a.m.: “Hey sister I talked to<br />

mom so I know you’re okay.<br />

Anyway, just wanted to say that<br />

I love you.”<br />

Her response: “thanks frère!<br />

love you too! i cant wait to see<br />

you again during christmas<br />

break!”<br />

One a.m. became 2, and 2<br />

became 3.<br />

Like millions of others, she<br />

stayed late into the night, trying<br />

to understand what had<br />

happened, her face illuminated<br />

by the warm glow of her laptop.<br />

Beijing<br />

When she woke up there were<br />

soldiers on the streets.<br />

Hundreds of them, sitting in<br />

We want to hear from you<br />

Send us your comments on our<br />

coverage, editorial decisions and<br />

the Penn State community.<br />

Email: editorinchief@<br />

psucollegian.com<br />

Online: collegian.psu.edu<br />

Postal Mail/In Person: 123 S.<br />

Burrowes St., State College, PA<br />

16801<br />

Letters should be about 200<br />

words. Student letters should<br />

include class year, major and<br />

campus. Letters from alumni<br />

should include graduation year.<br />

All writers should provide their<br />

armored trucks and manning<br />

makeshift barricades. None of<br />

them looked older than 20. She<br />

saw tires in flames and the<br />

burnt out husks of cars. She<br />

could make out tank tracks<br />

smeared across the road.<br />

The night before, June 4, 1989,<br />

she and her husband had fallen<br />

asleep to the sound of tanks.<br />

They lived in a farmer’s shed<br />

near the fourth ring road, east<br />

of central Beijing. He worked at<br />

a factory and she worked at a<br />

research institute.<br />

Every day she sat through a<br />

four-hour bus ride to and from<br />

work.<br />

Sometimes the buses were so<br />

packed she had to wait for the<br />

next one.<br />

She had worked hard her<br />

whole life: straight A’s in high<br />

school, acceptance to a<br />

university in the capital, a<br />

research position after<br />

graduation.<br />

She met her husband in<br />

graduate school. They were poor<br />

enough to live in a farmer’s<br />

shed and not own a television or<br />

telephone; they were ambitious<br />

enough to dream of moving to<br />

America.<br />

When they woke up and saw<br />

the soldiers on June 5, they had<br />

no idea what had happened.<br />

They heard rumors, though:<br />

that Tiananmen Square had<br />

been cleared of the student<br />

protesters who had camped<br />

there for months, that there had<br />

been gunfire, that people had<br />

died.<br />

They stayed inside and didn’t<br />

talk to anyone. They were afraid.<br />

They started to panic.<br />

What had happened the day<br />

before? What would happen<br />

tomorrow? Would things ever go<br />

back to normal? Everything was<br />

shut down: no buses or subways<br />

ran, no<br />

restaurants were open and no<br />

one went to work.<br />

It was as if someone had<br />

pushed the pause button on an<br />

entire city.<br />

And they sat in their shack<br />

and waited.<br />

A few days later, when life<br />

started to regain some<br />

semblance of normality, she<br />

headed to a dian bao da lou, a<br />

telegraph building, near<br />

Tiananmen Square. Her<br />

workplace was near Tiananmen<br />

and throughout the spring she<br />

had seen huge crowds<br />

address and phone number for<br />

verification. Letters should be<br />

signed by no more than two people.<br />

Members of organizations<br />

must include their titles if the<br />

topic they write about is connected<br />

with the aim of their groups.<br />

The Collegian reserves the right<br />

to edit letters. The Collegian cannot<br />

guarantee publication of all<br />

letters. Letters chosen also run<br />

on The Daily Collegian Online and<br />

may be selected for publication in<br />

The Weekly Collegian. All letters<br />

become property of Collegian Inc.<br />

Who we are<br />

The Daily Collegian’s editorial<br />

occupying the space.<br />

Now, it was empty.<br />

She waited in line to send a<br />

telegram to her parents. She<br />

didn’t feel particularly<br />

concerned about her family; she<br />

just wanted to let them know.<br />

Telegrams were charged by<br />

the character, though, and since<br />

she was poor, she tried to keep<br />

it as short as possible:<br />

“Everything’s fine.”<br />

State College<br />

“Have you heard from<br />

Xiaomeng?”<br />

I hesitated. It had been a<br />

month since I had contacted my<br />

sister. “No, not for a while,” I<br />

said.<br />

“Do you know if she’s okay?”<br />

he asked. “You know, with<br />

everything going on in Paris.”<br />

Then I remembered: the TV<br />

at the HUB-Robeson Center<br />

showing footage of a terror<br />

attack in Paris. My sister<br />

attending grad school in Paris.<br />

Oh my god.<br />

“The school she goes to is in a<br />

suburb,” I said.<br />

“She’s not in the city. She’s<br />

fine.”<br />

But was she fine? How did I<br />

know? How did I not make the<br />

connection? How did I watch<br />

news of a terror attack in Paris,<br />

shrug my shoulders and then<br />

meet up with a friend for<br />

dinner? What kind of brother<br />

was I — that a friend of hers<br />

immediately put two and two<br />

together when he saw the news<br />

while I, her own flesh and blood,<br />

saw the news and stuffed my<br />

face?<br />

I called my mom. Was Sister<br />

okay?<br />

Yes, she said, Sister is fine.<br />

She had received a message<br />

from her on WeChat. Sister<br />

should be safe in her apartment<br />

now.<br />

I logged onto <strong>Facebook</strong> and<br />

sent my sister a message at 7:14<br />

p.m. I told her I loved her, that I<br />

was sorry for not messaging her<br />

more regularly, that I would<br />

pray for her. She told me she<br />

loved me too, that she was sorry<br />

as well, that she would pray for<br />

me.<br />

I went back to my room and<br />

Skyped my mom. I told her I felt<br />

terrible: that I had failed as a<br />

brother, that I didn’t even think<br />

of her when I saw the news and<br />

that worst of all I couldn’t see<br />

past myself.<br />

opinion is determined by its<br />

Board of Opinion, which is made<br />

up of members of its Board of<br />

Editors, with the editor in chief<br />

holding final responsibility for<br />

content. The opinions expressed<br />

on the editorial page are not necessarily<br />

those of Collegian Inc., a<br />

separate institution from Penn<br />

State.<br />

That while my sister was<br />

safe and sound there were<br />

dozens of families that were<br />

irrevocably broken.<br />

Yet, I didn’t feel relief, only<br />

an inbent spiral of self-hatred<br />

and guilt, that I was a<br />

fundamentally selfish and<br />

loathsome person.<br />

I felt<br />

terrible for feeling terrible.<br />

She said: it’s okay, it’s okay,<br />

it’s okay.<br />

She told me about sending a<br />

telegram to her parents after<br />

the Tiananmen Square<br />

massacre.<br />

Months later she went back<br />

home and her parents told<br />

their side of the story.<br />

Unlike my mom, they owned<br />

a TV and saw the news about<br />

Beijing. They tried calling her<br />

workplace, but no one knew<br />

where she was. Days passed<br />

and they still didn’t hear from<br />

her. They were about to send<br />

their two sons, my uncles, to<br />

Beijing to look for her when<br />

they received her telegram<br />

that was as short as possible.<br />

Were they angry at her?<br />

Of course not, my mom told<br />

me. They were relieved. But<br />

my mom felt terrible.<br />

“At that moment I didn’t<br />

think about how much my<br />

family cared about me. All I<br />

thought about was myself. I<br />

was young and naive. Looking<br />

back, I realized how stupid I<br />

was. To let my family go<br />

through so much heartache,<br />

all because of my selfishness,”<br />

she said.<br />

Mom was at home, Dad had<br />

gone to a hotel in Limerick,<br />

Pennsylvania for a conference,<br />

Sister was in her apartment<br />

and I was in my dorm.<br />

Behind my mom I could<br />

make out family photos on the<br />

shelf: Sister in her cap and<br />

gown, Sister beside the Lion<br />

Shrine, me and Dad and Sister<br />

in front of the Notre Dame<br />

during our vacation in Paris,<br />

the whole family smiling in our<br />

living room.<br />

My mom and I talked late<br />

into the night. Our faces were<br />

illuminated by the warm glow<br />

of our laptops.<br />

Boen Wang is a junior majoring in<br />

engineering science and is The Daily<br />

Collegian’s Monday columnist. Email<br />

him at bvw5180@psu.edu or follow<br />

him on Twitter at @boen_wang.<br />

About the Collegian<br />

The Daily Collegian and The<br />

Weekly Collegian are published<br />

by Collegian Inc., an independent,<br />

nonprofit corporation with a<br />

board of directors composed of<br />

students, faculty and professionals.<br />

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and edit both papers and solicit<br />

advertising for them. During<br />

the fall and spring semesters as<br />

well as the second six-week<br />

summer session, The Daily Collegian<br />

publishes Monday<br />

through Friday. Issues are distributed<br />

by mail to other Penn<br />

State campuses and subscribers.<br />

Complaints<br />

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Scan the QR code to download the<br />

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Collegian Inc. James Building, 123 S. Burrowes St.<br />

State College, PA 16801-3882 ©2013 Collegian Inc.<br />

Board of Editors<br />

Editor in Chief Shannon Sweeney<br />

Managing Editor Garrett Ross<br />

Digital Managing Editor Darian Somers<br />

Opinions Editor Caitlin Wolper<br />

Campus Editor Sierra Baldwin<br />

Campus Chief Gabriella Santoliquito<br />

Metro Editor Morganne Mallon<br />

Arts Editor Hannah Sarisohn<br />

Arts Chief Candace McPhillips<br />

Features Editors Erin McCarthy<br />

and Kasey Feather<br />

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Sports Chief John DeRosier<br />

Football Editor Kristen Nelson<br />

Photo Editor John Baranoski<br />

Photo Chief Nick Thomas<br />

Social Media Manager Paulina Cajigal<br />

Visual Editor Ariel Shafir<br />

Visual Chief Dana Byrnes<br />

Copy Desk Chief Taylor Brady<br />

Copy Desk Assistant Chief<br />

Kelsey Thomasson<br />

Copy Desk Editors<br />

Lauren Davis, Jimmy Madden, Ciara<br />

O’Callaghan, Aubree Rader<br />

To contact News Division:<br />

News, Opinions, Arts, Sports, Photo, Graphics, The<br />

Daily Collegian Online and The Weekly Collegian<br />

Phone: (814) 865-1828 | Fax: (814) 863-1126<br />

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To contact Business Division:<br />

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