There is no denying the horror of the recent terrorist attacks in France in which innocent lives were lost and freedom of speech imperiled. The outrage of the world was rightly aimed at the perpetrators of the violence.
But where is the outrage over the far more brutal attacks being waged in Nigeria by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram? At the same time as the Paris attacks, hundreds of bodies — more than 2,000 by some counts — were piling up in the bush in Nigeria, victims of a group recognized as an al-Qaeda affiliate.
The latest action by Boko Haram (understood to mean that Western learning is forbidden) took place in Baga, Nigeria, and left in its wake too many bodies to count. “The human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous,” said Muhammad Abba Gava, a spokesman for civilians trying to counter Boko Haram. “No one could attend to the corpses and even the seriously injured ones who may have died by now,” Gava said.
The attack was just one — albeit a particularly ferocious one — in a long series of actions by a group intent on establishing an Islamic state in Nigeria. Boko Haram garnered international attention in April 2014 when it kidnapped hundreds of school girls and reportedly auctioned them off for $12 each to become “wives” of militants.
The move sparked the Bring Back Our Girls campaign that, for a short time, focused international attention on the issue as prominent figures including Michelle Obama and others took to the Internet to demand the return of the kidnap victims.
But the campaign proved unsuccessful, and attention soon turned to other international outrages. Boko Haram faded into the background. And yet here it is again, engaging in horrific acts of violence with little attention being paid by the international community. News reports of the recent carnage were limited, while coverage of the Paris attacks captured the headlines.
What explains the difference in outrage? More lives by far were lost in the Boko Haram attacks and the ideologies of the attackers were similar. Perhaps the difference can to some extent be explained by outrage fatigue in the case of Boko Haram. The international community has already expressed its outrage about the group but that outrage has made little difference in the actions and goals of the group.
Still, it is worth considering that our outrage may be selective. We relate far more readily to images of Parisians sheltering in their homes while the police deal with hostage situations than we do to pictures of remote Nigerian villages littered with bodies. We go to supermarkets — the scene of one of the hostage situations in Paris — and so feel outrage over an attack there more than we feel it over the attacks by Boko Haram.
This is not to suggest in any way that the outrage over the Paris attacks is unwarranted. It is simply to question why we seem to care so much more about some actions than about others.
Of course, there are many differences between the events in France and those in Nigeria: The terrorists in France were immediately compared to those who bombed the Boston marathon. Both incidents were allegedly planned and executed by radicalized brothers to strike in a major world city, while the attacks in Nigeria are part of an ongoing struggle to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state.
Still, the impulse behind each attack is the same: to repress speech and education and to advance Islamic “values.” Yet the reaction is very different.
By all means, let the marches and demonstrations in Paris continue and serve as a strong reminder that the world community condemns these horrific acts. But let’s not forget the Nigerian victims of Boko Haram and other victims of terrorist attacks due to selective outrage.
Professor Celia R. Taylor is the Nanda Chair and director of the International Legal Studies Program at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
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