HR in the News: U.N. Says Congo Rebels Killed Scores in Village

Two things jump out in this article about a recent massacre by the Lord’s Resistance Army in the Congo, the first sentence and the last. First: “United Nations officials said Saturday that the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel force killed up to 100 people in a previously unreported massacre in the remote northeastern corner of this country.” In class recently, we were discussing the Congo and how it’s hard to imagine the sheer number of those killed, comparatively imagining everyone in the city of Lincoln were dead. When reading this, the “previously unreported” nature of this massacre applies to a lot more than this horrible occurrence, embodied by a picture of a woman stripped of her lips and an ear, it applies to the ongoing nature of Congolese massacres we have the hardest time comprehending.
With the last sentence, it would seem there is no hope of things changing. Mr. Holmes, speaking of the LRA, leaves readers with the quote: “They have an amazing capacity to regenerate themselves, especially by kidnapping children.” This lack of hope is depressing, and its very depressing nature may cause readers to ignore articles of its likeness. The trouble is, no matter how gripping this article may be, in the vast realm of online articles, it will be overlooked more often than naught. The appeal to our sentiments, portraying those hundreds killed through a few individual descriptions such as the woman in the picture, makes it a little easier to tug our heartstrings without resorting to data and statistics saying simply 100 people were killed.
How do you feel after reading this article? How does it affect you?