Washington (CNN)Almost immediately following the news of the first terrorist attacks that eventually killed 17 people across France, the global community united around a Twitter hashtag "Je suis Charlie" and just days later foreign leaders linked arms with their French counterparts to lead a historic million-person strong rally. Meanwhile, explosives strapped to a girl who appeared to be about 10-years-old detonated on Saturday, killing at least 20 people, in a country whose encounters with terrorism were also punctuated by a hashtag -- this time "#BringBackOurGirls" of Nigeria. Boko Haram militants killed as many as 2,000 people, mostly civilians,in a massacre that started the weekend before the terror attack on Charlie Hedbo in downtown Paris.
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France and Nigeria experienced waves of terrorism during the first weeks of 2015
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While the terror attacks in Paris sparked international unified outrage, reaction to Nigeria was more muted
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Symbolism, politics and media all played a role in how France's response to terrorism was perceived
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Both the attacks in Nigeria and those in Paris are shocking and horrifying in their own respects, and yet one fomented an unprecedented international reaction -- a popular show of force that rivaled even the reaction to 9/11 -- while the response to the attacks in @placeholder paled in comparison.
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By contrast, the attacks on freedom of speech resounded strongly not just in @placeholder, but around the world.
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People around the world watched for days as the manhunt and later tense standoff unfolded between @placeholder security forces and the terrorists.
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Instead, most found out late this weekend or on Monday morning about the attack in @placeholder that started on Jan. 3.