"The Big Bang Theory" star Mayim Bialik, who plays Amy Farrah Fowler in the popular CBS sitcom said that her "heart is hurting" in light of the Paris terror attacks.
When she shared a blank photo on her social media accounts and commented, "Oh Paris," she was surprised by the number of mean comments it generated.
"For me, there is no image to show right now. Because for Paris, everything about this period after terror is dark and murky and bloody and blurry," she wrote in her blog Groknation. "There are so many comments, though, about how everyone needs to care about the other places in the world where this 'happens every day' and just a lot of mean comments that are unsupportive of Paris. Kind of like, 'Get over it, you're not that special.' People have commented that I need to do more about raising awareness for other acts of terror, for instance, Beirut (where 43 people died in a double suicide bombing on Thursday)."
As a Jew who lost her family because of the Holocaust, Bialik has encountered that same resentment people display every time their past suffering is highlighted.
"Is your genocide the only one worth talking about?" people would question her and other Jewish people. "What about all of the other genocides?
Bialik said that this attitude is wrong, since people should not go about comparing tragedies.
"Of course I care about every tragedy in the world. I make it my business to learn about it and talk with other caring intelligent people about what goes on in the world," she said. "But I know that if that was how everyone operated, the world would be so dark, we would not be able to see the light to find a way out of the darkness."
Instead of comparing tragedies, Bialik said that people should care more about showing compassion for Paris, since this is the only way people can truly fight "the insanity and the hatred and the ignorance that ISIS is perpetrating."
"And let Paris have its tragedy without making it less important because we think other issues or other tragedies might be more important. A multiple-level terror attack orchestrated by terrorists, at least one of whom was a French national, is devastating. Execution-style murders in the middle of a city and a hostage situation of this scale is very unique," she said.
