From an United Statesian perspective, I think there are a lot of factors in play:<p>1. Most Americans could find France on a map. Lebanon? Not so much.<p>2. France is America&#x27;s &quot;oldest ally&quot; - lots more common ground.<p>3. Many Americans have been to Paris; much fewer to Beirut.<p>The article points to some other things:<p>4. The perception that this happens all the time in Lebanon, even though &quot;it had been a year of relative calm.&quot;<p>5. Network effect (perhaps I&#x27;m misusing that term a bit) - FB activated their stuff because people were interested in it, which gets more people interested in it. I know I went straight to the TV after seeing my Twitter feed light up about it; had it just been a buried headline somewhere I might not have been as gravitated toward it.<p>Not necessarily saying any of these things are good or bad. Sometimes I feel like people take on an accusatory tone when bringing up topics like this, so I wanted to explore some explanations.