Afghan Children Burned

June 27, 2005 4:01 PM

Afghan Children Burned Correspondent Jim Rupert and photographer Moises Saman of Newsday have just done a magnificent report explaining how and why Afghan women and children are increasingly getting burned by exploding kerosene lamps. One of the problems is that the black market is sometimes selling aviation fuel--far more combustible at lower temperatures--as regular kerosene; women and children, who usually have lamp lighting duties, are getting maimed when the lamps explode.
posted by etaoin (12 comments total)

Wow, nice spin they put on that article. Are Afghan children the only ones using kero lamps? Are Afghan kids the only ones buying the stuff? Maybe the real headline should be that Pakistani drivers are selling rejected fuel on the black market.
posted by j.p. Hung at 4:15 PM on June 27, 2005

Well that was truly awful to read.

The question is, what can be done about it? How do you stop the black market from running?
posted by fenriq at 4:16 PM on June 27, 2005

That country is hell. I hope we ( the US ) have helped more than hurt. Are doctors without borders doing good work there?
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:25 PM on June 27, 2005

Excellent points j.p. Hung.
posted by nickyskye at 4:50 PM on June 27, 2005

Manipulative title, IMO.
posted by ori at 4:59 PM on June 27, 2005

> Maybe the real headline should be that Pakistani drivers are
> selling rejected fuel on the black market.

Maybe the headline should be laws of supply and demand gone wrong -- reliable utility should be a priority and I'm sure it is but
something's in the way.
posted by NewBornHippy at 5:46 PM on June 27, 2005

The title may be manipulative, but would you have read the article if it said "Pakistani drivers selling rejected fuel on the black market"? Remember that article writers usually don't write the headlines; someone else carries that responsibility, and they are trained to find the provocative hook that will catch a reader's attention.

Oh yeah, one more thing: children ARE being burned, even if they're not the only ones. Would you care more if it were canisters of kerosene from a major-label US firm, refilled with this explosive fuel and sold out of stalls at US campsites as the real thing? I suspect this story would generate a lot more sympathy 'round these parts if a single child were injured at a campsite under the above scenario.

Anyway, I just wish we lived in a world where all children could wake up, play, learn, grow, eat, make new friends, and then go to sleep at night feeling safe.

Sigh.
posted by davejay at 5:49 PM on June 27, 2005

I read the article because it was posted on Mefi. I work with copywriters so yes, I realize the headlines are designed to be attention grabbing. Your point only reinforces my opinion. And I don't recall saying children weren't being burned.
posted by j.p. Hung at 7:02 PM on June 27, 2005

on preview:
"...I just wish we lived in a world where all children could wake up, play, learn, grow, eat, make new friends, and then go to sleep at night feeling safe."

Amen to that.
posted by j.p. Hung at 7:03 PM on June 27, 2005

Whew.
This story happens to focus on an unfortunate side effect of war--polluted kerosene and the consequences for children and women and almost non-existent health care in an impoverished country. Black marketing is a different story altogether and certainly worth writing about but this particular story is about the kids and the disaster that has been visited on the Afghan people over the last 20-plus years of war. It also isn't about the global use of kerosene, or a condemnation of the US military, not the correctness of war or anything else. Just a story about unfortunate kids and women. The headline is legit--kids are being burned, and it perfectly reflects the content of the story. The black market is also just one element, though a particularly cruel one, that causes these accidents, but just one, not the whole story. Hence the headline. The idea that the headline is somehow skewed is lost on me.
posted by etaoin at 7:08 PM on June 27, 2005

Well said, etaoin. The black market is a bit player in the larger tragedy.
posted by fenriq at 9:36 PM on June 27, 2005

I don't think the headline is misleading so much as poorly written. Of course there will always be those who see some sinister meaning in everything, but in this case I think incompetence on the part of the copy editor is largely to blame.
posted by clevershark at 10:07 PM on June 27, 2005