Shock, disbelief, indignation, conspiracy theories, support, anguish, racism… this is but a fraction of what has been expressed over the last few weeks on the missing flight MH370. It continues to remain a mystery… and one that may never be resolved.
Friends have timidly inquired my reaction. I really don’t have an opinion… except that it must be excruciating for the families who have been waiting with little or no knowledge of what happened to their loved ones on the flight. My heart goes out to them.
Some random set of “pings” seem to be the only thing anyone knows in this case. I couldn’t help but think the other day that the state of affairs must be pretty desperate when the prevailing hope is that the vessel was hijacked.
So, the lack of any hard evidence has spurred most of the media to put out massive amounts of “non-stories”. My news-feed on Facebook contains (more than) several everyday. Supply and demand, eh? Even if it is a non-story the magic tags are “missing plane” and “MH370″… which like a Pavlovian response make it an automatic read for many.
The Malaysian authorities have been under scrutiny for their handling the aftermath of this unfortunate event. From the local (Malaysian) level, political “thrumpsmanship” has been flying forth hard and fast. International perceptions and opinions are also less than rosy. Of course, Malaysian national pride has been bruised by all of this. Not unlike the bruising of American pride during the Katrina crisis.
I have read as many calls for solidarity as I have read calls to “throw those bastards out” by Malaysians. Then, there are the conspiracy theories that are conjured up seemingly almost by the minute. Mostly in an effort to point a finger of blame instead of finding a cause. But all of it is speculation with nothing tangible… at least to date.
The search goes on for the plane. Until and if any evidence is found to shine a light onto what may have happened… the frenzy of myth-making will continue.