Summary
Holly Bowles, a 19-year-old Australian, has become the sixth foreign tourist to die from suspected methanol poisoning in Laos.
She and her friend Bianca Jones fell ill in Vang Vieng, a popular backpacking town, after reportedly consuming tainted alcohol, which can be lethal even in small amounts.
Other victims include a British lawyer, an American man, and two Danish women. Methanol, often found in bootleg or home-distilled alcohol, is believed to be the cause.
Authorities are investigating, with the manager of the hostel where free shots were served detained for questioning.
When locals were dying from it nobody cared.
Local events don’t tend to make international news in general, regardless of where it happens.
Nor really, we are inundated with local news from the US all the time that are nor even relevant for the US national population.
Feel like this needs to be said. If they weren’t pretty young blonde women from Australia, this wouldn’t be hitting the headlines as much as it is
Yes, this happens with some regularity. Usually during wedding season (dry season) and at large funerals. The reason it’s in the news is what you said.
Search any of the local news sites for ‘alcohol poisoning’ in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and you will have a lot of results.
Why wouldn’t the bbc and Australian media cover the deaths by misfortune of citizens from their home country
Well of course they would. It’s just unusual that the victims weren’t local.
Also goes for stories covering children, too.
As an aside, I always wondered if the opposite rings true in countries where the minority is white. Ethnocentrism?
Possibly. But why does this need to be said? How is it relevant here? What does it offer?
Because it calls out the blatant hypocrisy. Why the pushback?
Because stating that people are biased for beauty and youth and western, predominantly white media are biased for whiteness, is like saying that the sky is blue. It adds nothing and detracts from the story, which is more about the excessive drinking culture in youth, backpacking, thrill-seeking, Southeast Asia, and a host more closely related topics. Noticing that the faces on the BBC heading are pretty blonde girls and making an issue of it is anything but deep. It is the most superficial thing you could notice and comment on, bordering on creepy, because you reduce a story to “pretty blondes”. If and when you suspect that an important story is buried because its protagonists are not conventionally attractive or because of their race or gender identity, then do bring it up. Then you are helping elevate people whose stories perhaps should be told and heard more widely.
It’s amusing that out of the few articles I’ve seen it’s only been pictures of girls. There’s no way that old backpacker dude or a friggin lawyer didn’t have photos. I can go digging I guess but I was just mildly curious what people who traveled and drank at these places looked like.
RELEASE THE UGLY OLD MAN PICS
I thought it would be like a cool backpacker, maybe some Bourdain energy to him.
Isnt the antidote actual ethanol?
The preferred antidote is fomepizole together with hemodialysis.
Fomepizole works by blocking the enzyme that converts methanol and ethylene glycol to their toxic breakdown products.[4]
Yes, but you need to drink untainted alcohol in huge quantities to give your liver something to do instead of killing you. When you don’t know, you drink in moderation, or worse each following drink has more methanol in it. You might be fucked before you even realize what’s going on, and even with a doctor in the room it’s not immediately obvious what’s happening.
Ah, cruel Fate
There’s a lot of things criminals can get away with but if you kill a young pretty white girl, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to prison for a long fucking time.
Tell me again how white privilege doesn’t exist.
Pretty white spoiled girls “yay let’s go to a third world country where 13 people live for a week on the cost of my hair dye!”
Like I’m sorry but maybe give your head a shake you idiots. You look like a tv star and these people live on pennies. How far up you ass is your own head? How stupid and naive can you possibly be? Of course they are going to take what you have and/or kill you.
Third world gonna third world.
Methanol poisoning is a very bad way to kill someone for their belongings
you’re tripping. third world countries arent some lawless wastelands full of hopeless zombies like you seem to imagine.
Tourist money is a good thing for poor countries you delusional fuckwit.
