Many years ago, documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis talked about the phenomenon of “Oh dearism”: in which the images of horror and suffering around the world that we’re inundated with are stripped of their political context, leaving us to utter an impotent, “Oh dear,” in response. After all, what else can you say about yet another parade of senseless and inexplicable horrors that no one can seem to do anything about?

The devastating flooding in Libya, which has turned the center of the city of Dern to mud, killing thousands and possibly as many as tens of thousands, is a near-perfect example of this phenomenon. Though rooted in specific political decisions made more than a decade ago — namely, the disastrous decision by the US, French, and British governments to militarily intervene in Libya and then topple dictator Muammar Gaddafi — that part of the story has been played down or even wholly left out in English-speaking news coverage, rendering this unfolding calamity just another unfortunate thing happening in some far-off, dysfunctional country for no good reason.