Comments on: Togo Bus Attack in Angola ahead of African Cup of Nations: Reaction & Some Serious Questions

By: Togo Bus Attack in Angola ahead of African Cup of Nations … | Angola Today

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 02:05:13 +0000

[...] the rest here: Togo Bus Attack in Angola ahead of African Cup of Nations … Tags: angola sports, coverage-as-the, now-everyone Sports, [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:21:26 +0000

"What BBC did is another form of propaganda of the west to make sure Africa remains the 'dark continent' as they have made the world to believe over the years"

Yeah, it was the BBC that murdered those footballers, berk.

As for being surprised and upset that the moronic Murdoch media reports thigs moronically, how does someone that naive get through the day?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:22:36 +0000

Good work, John. The media is full of cliches and easy stories…an inveitable cause of fast approaching deadlines! Just glad quite a lot of people see through the tripe! Its hard to find a decent article these days! Do the media really report on the issues that are relevant to people's lives or really just report on a small number of celebrity facades, quirky tales and generic nonense. Rarely does any research or substantiated work go into considered articles. Headlines and simplicity is the order of the day.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:09:27 +0000

This is a fantastic article. Objectivity, clarity, and engaging, not trite, questions are all at the forefront. A welcome change from the garbage I've been reading.

When the World Cup comes in Africa, this incident will be brushed aside by a magnificent sporting event. The media today in their misleading attempts to entrench the world's views of Africa as a third world country riddled with poverty and fanatic militants will be swept aside. We need to focus on the cup. It is going to drastically change the world's perception of Africa.

By: Just Football

Just Football — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:25:21 +0000

@Anonymous #2 - The focus is firmly on the perpetrators of this attack, that is quite clear. However it is not 'unintelligent' or a 'conspiracy theory' to be indignant at the way reporting of this tragic incident is being handled by sections of the media.

Jubril is quite right in saying there is no direct correlation between South Africa and Angola and it is quite right to be angry at people in the media who mislead on a wide scale when linking the terrible events in Cabinda to the World Cup.

Jonathan

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:51:16 +0000

The BBC has reported the events well. It was the first to report that the death toll has now unfortuantly risen to three.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:18:22 +0000

A lot of blame in some of these comments attributed towards 'the west' and Jubril even goes as far to 'question motives' and mention the USA! Can people get over the conspiracy theories and bitterness? It is unintelligent. The focus of blame should be on the despicable human beings who shot at a bus full of innocent human beings rather than on any alleged anti-African sentiment. By focusing on other areas you are deflecting away from the true tragedy of what happened.The Cabinda news still headlines the BBC website and Twitter is not the centre of western media. Get some perspective.

By: Jubril

Jubril — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:35:05 +0000

What BBC did is another form of propaganda of the west to make sure Africa remains the 'dark continent' as they have made the world to believe over the years but thanks to internet (which an African is the father of) and people like you. This irresponsible good for nothing people would have succeeded again in their quest. I cant understand the correlation between what has happened in angola and the world cup in southafrica. USA is the most terrorist threatened country in the world yet Canada is said to be one of the safest and most peaceful countries in the world yet the distance between the two countries is not as much as that of Angola and Southafrica.

By: Just Football

Just Football — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:36:16 +0000

Thanks for the comments guys. The BBC were discussing the World Cup 2010 in a report earlier, which I think acts as a pretty accurate and depressing prelude to where debate of this whole issue is going to end up.

-Andrew Guest: I agree with your points about Cabinda being a unique part of Angola. It makes you question the motives behind assigning the area as one of the 4 venues for the African Cup of Nations 2010.

Jonathan

By: Starting11

Starting11 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:54:40 +0000

Senseless, irresponsible and tragic. All too common adjectives in our times today thanks to terrorist acts like this. Here's hoping Togo plays and wins the whole thing!
http://bit.ly/8uZRGF

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:52:48 +0000

Without question the best single piece I've read on this terrible story so far.

Thank you.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:03:45 +0000

The British press always has been irresponsible, and their attitude toward this tragedy confirms that. Pray for Togo and especially those wounded in this despicable attack.

By: Andrew Guest

Andrew Guest — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:41:12 +0000

And, by the way, I "really really am gutted by all of this" as well. Just gutted.

By: Martha

Martha — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:33:44 +0000

[And when I say, "Congo," I mean "Angola." Sorry.]

By: Martha

Martha — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:31:49 +0000

Good post, thank you for bringing some much needed perspective to the reports everyone has seen.

It's depressing how little depth any mainstream media report (on anything) offers these day; the focus on speed and pageviews discourages thought and analysis by producers of content, and people swallow the superficial reports and run with them. Thus Congo = Africa, Adebayor = Togo. Etc, etc, etc.

By: Andrew Guest

Andrew Guest — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:30:37 +0000

Thanks Jonathan for raising and noting these important issues. I'd also just add a minor note that in the same way you state "Angola and South Africa are not the same country" there is a way in which Cabinda and Angola are not the same place–as your first issue above points out. Most of Angola really is recovering from their 27 year civil war. But Cabinda is a different conflict (in a part of the country that is not connected by land to the rest of Angola). And, to be even more particular, the hinterlands of the Cabinda enclave are a different place from the city of Cabinda–where the actual games are/were to have been played. So, as your 2nd issue above notes, the key issue here is really why Togo were allowed to travel by bus through the hinterlands.

Thanks again for the post.

By: Just Football

Just Football — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:34:41 +0000

Thanks for reading blogdroed. Basically either the Togolese FA or CAF have some real explaining to do. Travelling by bus through such a dangerous route would be foolish for a tourist, let alone a team of international footballers guaranteed to attract worldwide attention.

I really really am gutted by all this.

By: blogdroed

blogdroed — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:24:20 +0000

Excellent stuff and my tjoughts exactly.

Of course, Sky's dismissal of the ACN is due in no small part to the Premier League's clubs attitudes.

They are upset about losing their players to what someone on Twitter described as a "two bit tournament".