My friend, Julija, visited the Bay Area from San Diego all this week. As with any Penn alum visitation, I grasped the chance to discuss social, political, and economic issues in the news. (I understand that I don’t have to limit these discussions to Ivy Leaguers. But there’s usually one involved, and when there isn’t, most conversations leave a bitter taste of ignorance in my mouth. I think it’s because most of my friends from college are international or have at least traveled and lived abroad pretty extensively. I also think it’s the fault of our closed US media.)
We spent much of Saturday walking through SOMA and visiting the MLK memorial near the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts talking about current events, cultural incongruities and integrations, and what to do with our lives. It was so refreshing!
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The day before, I was sitting in my office, completely unable to focus on the work in front of me because it was so close to new year’s holiday, when I read the news about Bhutto’s assassination. My exclamation to cubeland pretty much fell to deaf ears. Trust me, my company isn’t representative of Americans or even the Bay Area. For what most people think are “flacks,” we have amazing, brilliant people who work and strategize at SHIFT. But most of them have never lived abroad or even ventured far from the state of California.
To have almost no reaction was so disheartening. I think it was because most people don’t care, thinking that it doesn’t affect them. They’d never heard of Bhutto and don’t understand the dynamics in play in Pakistan. Trust me, I’m not at all knowledgeable about what will happen in the region. I’m sure a political analyst or even a poli-sci major would be able to go further in depth. But I do understand that her death and the silencing of such an inspirational voice will have an effect throughout South Asia and Asia minor. That a stable Pakistan helps US troop movements in Afghanistan and the Middle East. That we’ve pissed on Turkey not a few months back, and now Pakistan is on the rocks.
That not a week after her assassination, news of Britain’s involvement in the investigation or the postponement of elections until February have all but disappeared from the major headlines, when I read major online pubs this morning. I mean why does a follow-up story about a tiger killing three young men (who probably taunted the poor caged thing) supercede frontpage headlines from Pakistan that affect an entire subcontinent?
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I am so disheartened by the apathy of most Americans when it comes to international affairs.
Yeah, I know. Nothing new.
But it is something new.
Maybe I was simply living the coccooned life of a child in the 90s, but the world in the 00s is quickly changing. The US superpower is fading after years of hubris, hypocricy, and coercion. The “emerging” countries, Brazil, China, India, South Korea, South Africa, etc. (I swear Russia should be on that list), seem to be experiencing stable growth. Social media tools, although still regional, has become a new international communications tool. The UN has officially become obsolete, pending the dawn of either another superpower or *God save us all* a consensus of such.
I’m not even arguing that we should all picket or march because clearly our government is funded by corporations and not citizens. But at least be aware!
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That includes the media.
For example, a group of South Korean Christian missionaries are taken hostage by “terrorists” (in quotation because as the Israel top negotiator once told us, “Where you stand depends on where you sit”) in Afghanistan. At least one or two were beheaded, and two returned to South Korea. … dot. dot. dot. And…? Where’s the follow up?
It completely fades from the news.
Example number two: I’m very sorry for the people who suffered and lost their homes to the fires in SoCal. What I’m about to say does not in any way trump or diminish their trauma. But at the same time fires were raging in Mexico just across the border and tens of thousands were also drowning in a horrific flood… Where is their news? Page 8? 9?
You can say the same thing about the hundreds of miners trapped in China, and the calamity in rescue efforts, law suits, and government involvement. That story was stowed in the back, paled in comparison to the US efforts to save Utah miners.
Yes, local news matters more. But international news should matter. Should exist in the consciousness of our general population. It doesn’t. That is freakin’ terrifying.
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I’m really happy that Seher’s starting an educational, social club.
My new wish is to find a group of people diverse and knowledgeable enough to keep me on top of all the happenings. To spread the news.
