On one of the back pages of my newspaper of today was this little item (I translate it in full lenght:

600 Christians killed in Nigeria

According to church officials, seemingly as an act of retaliation Muslim youths have killed 500 to 600 Christians in the town of Kano in the North of Nigeria. "Close to 600 people have been killed and 12 churches have been burnt down", a spokesman of the Christian Union of Nigeria declared on Thursday. Armoured with knives and clubs, Muslim youths have chased Christians who are in the minority in this region. (End of quote)

Well, it was Africa, but it could have been somewhere else, the murderers in this case were Muslims, but it could have been Christians just as well. I don't post this to tell you that one particular death is irrelevant compared to so many. I post it for I guess my initial reaction was similar to yours and this reaction tells a lot about our biases.

At first I just read on. I had read a long article about Rumsfeld in Iraq, another about Nick Berg, one more about proven and suspected American crimes in Iraq, so this was just another short notice.

Then I stopped: 600 killed with knives and clubs? Many of these murders must have looked similar to, or worse than the murder of Nick Berg. Two differences spring to mind:
(1) No pictures available from Nigeria (at least not to me)
(2) Neither the victims nor the perpetrators are Westerners

Twelve churches burnt, but one of the three big TV news of today was one mosque probably damaged by American fire. The focus of attention is completely on what happens to or by the Western nations. Even those here who blame the USA wherever they can (sorry, feel they have to) dosplay the same bias.

Wolfgang