The problem here is that we are a victim of much better global communications. What I mean by that is that these type of problems occurred much more frequently in the past but we never heard about them, and thus felt the world was a safer place.
Nowadays, we hear about every incident - no matter how small, or unusual - from the far corners of the globe, and it only serves to make us far more paranoid about the risks.
The risk are actually far less, but our awareness (and consequent fear) of the risks is far higher.
Perspective is required to put it all into context. From my own personal perspective I was in Zaire in 1978 during the Kolwezi massacres and subsequent military clampdown - I only found out about it when I reached Kisangani. I ended up riding into Uganda (during Amin's rule) as a quick exit from the country and it was only weeks later when I reached the Nairobi Poste Restante, and opened an urgent telegram to contact the Oz High Commission, that I discovered I had been front page headlines in the Melbourne newspapers as being someone thought dead and massacred. To the great chagrin (and no doubt disappointment) of the Melbourne Herald-Sun I reported back that I was well and truly alive and simply a victim of typically right-wing journalistic sensationalism.
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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman
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