I type in msn.com to see the latest newsheadlines. What do I see? First headline: Angelina Jolie gives birth.
And yet 3,500 dead in Java, Indonesia from an earthquake.
It startles me how unaware America in particular is of the outside world. How focused our news is on us and other Americans specifically, without even giving much of a care to the world unless something big happens or Americans or war are involved.
I wish America could be more World focused and muticultural rather than stuck in a national bubble worried so much about our own problems and crisis. Not that our own aren't important at all, they are. But maybe America should focus more on World events and other governments so that there's no suspicion and fear.
If we had expanded our minds to see other cultures, America might have heard largely about Islam before radicalist groups had the exposure time. Now when you think Islam or Arab in America it's automatically linked to terrorism, which is extremely unfair. Islam, if you actually research it rather than feeding off of what the media tells you 24/7, you might find that it's actually a peaceful religion. And just because someone's an Arab doesn't mean they're a terrorist. That's like saying just because someone's Irish they're going to get drunk every friday or just because someone's German they embrace Nazism. That's an unfair judgement on a group of people simply because of where they were born, which isn't something they can control.
If America focused more on people of different nationalities other than our HeteroWASP painted world, we might actually be able to have many good friends and maybe... oh I don't know, learn something. We're so entrapped in our mediocre white suburban ideal of America that we can't see that we've not only got people suffering and having problems abroad, but also right here in our blessed amber waves of grain. Maybe if we actually took a look at the poorest people in America we'd see that America isn't in fact this wonderful democratic painting of oppurtunity. Maybe we'd actually see that, in this country, it doesn't matter how much you work if you're getting paid 12 cents an hour. Maybe we'd actually see that the good ol' American dream is knowing the right people, having the right connections, and having the cash in the bank to be able to actually DO what you want to do and make the best of it.
And maybe if we did actually see something other than the rose tinted glasses of television and Hollywood, we might make a change and maybe see that there's something wrong with two people living in a 15 million dollar home with more cars they can drive at once while people work themselves to death for 12 cents an hour and barely have enough money to support themselves, let alone any children they may have.
Just a thought.
you are right what happend to teh important news. i was just on msn adn thought the same thing
I agree with you for the most part. However, you probably found out about the earthquake from the media, just like most Americans found out about Angelina Jolie from the media. My question is: How about the events that are happening somewhere out there that the media never get around writing about? They are probably just as important--in one way or another--but even the more multicultural people like you will never care about them until you see them in the news.
I find that whenever I write an entry with an international angle, especially regarding the brutality against South Koreans right now as a roundabout favor for the American military base expansions, I almost never get any responses. It is the dark side of so-called "patriotism": self-absorbed narcissitic pride and disregard for issues that don't immediately effect "us". One of my many goals in life is to wake people up to the fact that what affects one person, regardless of nationality, affects all of us, that they deserve as much consideration as people in your own country, that boundaries are meaningless to the treatment and value of a human being. If we don't learn this fast, the world is only going to get worse.
Citizen Press Revolution
Just like threads on Taiwan and Chinese thus far went ignored. But Indonesia is getting popular lately. What with the tsunami, the volcano, the earthquake, and the bird flu. I mean, woah!
Just post an entry about France or anything french, and you'll have answers. Most of them uninformed drivel unfortunately. I have seen one today at the Huffington Post which is a perfect illustration, the entry itself being uninformed.
For the MSM, international news just isn't a big seller. News broadcasts are in the business (notice emphasis) of selling advertising time.
And, except if isolated incidents, people don't tend to watchnews stories about things that happen far away from them; I'm not sure if it's being jingoistic or just human nature to care more about what happens closer to you.
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There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
It is in fact scary that we tend to care more about pop culture than things that are actually shaping our world. Perhaps it's because we don't want to be depressed about some natural disaster or catastrophe, so we turn to celebrities and focus on their lives because we find it to be happier, or at least more amusing than something terrible that happened. This attitude scares me becuase we no longer seem to care about those who need help around the world or we just skip over those articles so we stay happy.
Which is ironic considering the news is bent on scaring us than making us happy.
Hence why we tend to tune out what isn't happy and focus on what is. We watch shows like "Simple Life" because they are happy, and ignore shows that talk about how depressing the real world is.
Yes Americans as a whole are much more considered with Brad Pitt than Tony Blair, but that is how the country has developed for some reason. I cant really see it changing.
That's true. Why does it matter that Angelina Jolie just had a child? I don't know, but everyone is talking about it.
And many Americans really could care less about other parts of the world. Many Americans don't think that the U.S. should give so much aid to foreign countries. But we're a world super power. If we don't give aid, who will? Should we just let the AIDS victims in Africa just die off? Should we let poverty-stricken countries just self combust? No. As a super power, I feel that we should use our power to help the less fortunate.