Another Week

The crime in Chicago has been on the rise, leading to the deaths of hundreds this year alone. But where is the backlash. In the past week we have seen people take to social media to protest the killing of a gorilla in a zoo to save the life of a young child. But what social media missed was that in Chicago alone there where 64 people shot and 6 died in the same time frame. But with that there wasn't any major reaction from the internet on that.

Why?

It seems that people prefer to talk about and look at these cases where the story ended in a best possible outcome. Where as with the zoo we are looking for who to blame on social media, people know who is to blame in Chicago. The gangs are for the most part to blame in the massive violence in Chicago. It seems that the longer the violence has been going on the less and less people care. Although there were  over 60 people shot in just 3 days it isn't new in Chicago and it isn't uncommon. By some estiments it was below the about that they had expected.

The difference is that social media is drawn to these new and rare stories because it is new. Where as a story that is the same time and time again mean nothing to most people on social media. Although social media can be a great tool for reform there is a need for social media to have something to get their attention and thus to promote change.