Same War, Different Flavor

Being exposed to both the Canadian and American coverage of the GSAVE ("Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism") really gives an interesting contrast. Here's an example:

Over a week ago (Nov. 24), a Canadian soldier was killed in Afghanistan during what is basically a traffic accident. (I certainly don't mean to belittle his death.) Every day since then, he has been mentioned in the headlines covering the incident, his body's arrival in Canada, and his funeral.

Yesterday, the US headline read "Bomb Kills 10 Marines, Wounds 11 in Iraq." Today, there is no mention of the incident in the headlines.

In this case, the contrast is all about the proportions. This being the 8th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan certainly is a contrast to the hundreds of American soldiers killed in Iraq. However, the death of the 10 marines was reported to be the deadliest attack in 4 months. I'm reminded of the quote that is attributed to (ironically) Stalin: "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

I'm not trying to say that one amount of coverage is better than another, it's just interesting to see the difference.