Saturday, July 08, 2006

Something that has ALWAYS bugged me:

I have always hated it when in news reports they emphasize the number of Americans killed or injured in some catastrophe or other. Like if Americans weren't involved, the whole thing doesn't matter. If that's not the message, I wonder if it is the effect- that people won't care if it's not effecting one of their own. Like Darfur. Who the hell cared about a Sudanese genocide? Where the hell is Sudan, anyway? Considering geography knowledge in America, this is a good question.

I don't want to start bashing people- because I believe that the majority of my countrymen have quite a lot of compassion- witness the response to the tsunami in Asia. But I think that the media keeps it all so localized that we have become really shitty citizens of the world. We elected a president who had never been off of the continent prior to his election.

And for the record, I do think that for example if 700 Indians die on a ferry disaster, it means as much whether or not there were an additional 20 Americans on board.
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7 comments:

(S)wine said...

oh now...don't EVEN get me started on Americans. but yea, suffice it to say...amen.

1:13 PM
slyboots2 said...

One of the world's major evils in my opinion is nationalism. Breeds fascism. Breeds pure evil. And part of that is the concept that we're solo in the world. Or better. Or that other people in other places don't matter. That just bugs the hell out of me. Always has. I think it's short-sighted and stupid.

9:57 PM
Anonymous said...

I agree. Hearing the media point out how many Americans died in a given foreign accident is just pathetic. They're catering to the ethnocentric folks in the country who think only American lives are worth-while.

According to at least one theory, the ethnocentric mind-set is an inevitable step in everyone's evolution. Unfortunately, not every adult makes it past ethnocentric, and most news organizations mention the American deaths for their sake.

12:18 AM
(S)wine said...

nationalism is alive and well, and pretty much prevalent all over the world. why do you think members of the EU (for starters) can't agree on anything?

3:56 AM
Anonymous said...

I agree with you all on all points above and have always found criticizing this country to be a meaningful and worthwhile pursuit. Nearly a decade abroad taught me that we're not really that different. Wherever you go you'll see the same thing. Whenever there's a disaster of any sort, local papers always feel a need to point out how many of their compatriots died, etc in the incident. I was in Penang, Malaysia when the tsunami hit there and it was nearly a week before I found out that the death toll was in six figures and people outside of Malaysia were affected. I discovered this when I found a copy of the Guardian (UK) with headlines something like "Hundreds of Brits amongst the dead". Returning home to Japan, the papers made you think it was a Japanese-only catastrophe. Check out any foreign paper from the last week of 2004 and you'll see the same thing. The same thing happened with 9/11. Newspapers are businesses and their aim is to sell papers, which means that they need to print what people are interested in. The average American just isn't that interested in the deaths of scores of Indians, etc. I'm not saying it's right, I just wanted to point out that Americans don't have a monopoly on nationalism or ethnocentrism. Who knows? It might have the positive effect of getting a few people to open up an atlas and learn a little geography...

4:58 AM
slyboots2 said...

It's been chapping my ass since jr. high. When I first noticed it. And then when I learned what nationalism was and what it causes, I was more alarmed. Even witnessing the WORLD CUP phenomenon makes me nervous- because all of that identifying us versus them seems like the perfect setup to keep that mentality alive and well. And it's a short step, I think (if you're not paying attention- or if your government wants to use it) to go from believing that your country of origin is superior to believing that your ethnicity/race/class is superior. And we all know what kind of crap that leads to.
Mankind (and I'm using that as a universal, not slamming men in general) tends to be a little creepy in larger numbers.

7:21 AM
(S)wine said...

the WC is the perfect example of that. and, since you're not a fan of the game, you'll really never know how important a role its "fans" play in the creation of, and running of governments--especially in the Balkan countries, and to a certain extent in Africa. But one word about, even the West: Berlusconi. Since he bought AC Milan in 1985 this man has been nothing short of Napoleonic.

4:03 PM

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