When the fires started burning in Paris, Geoff and I were in Tunisia. I had caught bits and decided to put on the news. BBC World News rewarded me with a brief headline story which showed burning cars, riots and mentioned Paris. It was over so quickly that I had no idea what exactly had happened or why but I got the idea - Paris on fire. I'm not sure if the media is just stupid or evil. Unfortunately for us all, I think a bit of both. It has become increasingly obvious to me that 99% of the media is interested in one thing - sensationalism.
Personally, I am starting to believe that there are two components necessary to understand a situation adequately - communication and analysis. Without communication, one could never feel the agony of an Iraqi family whose loved ones are killed by a U.S. bomb attack. Without communication, we could never hope to unravel the stereotypes that Muslims and Americans have about each other, or even that many Americans have about the French.
When I talk to people, I am often surprised at what I learn. I was stunned by the reaction of Muslims in Tunisia when I told them we were American. Each individual - whether a taxi driver, store owner, or just a man we met on the bus - had the same reaction. They would welcome us and say that they believed people were all the same across the world. In fact, many of them were more concerned about what Americans thought and feared about them than the other way around.
It has been equally surprising to learn that by no means do the French hate Americans, despite what half of people said to us before our move. In my French class once we talked about what nationalities make jokes about each other. My teacher was stunned to learn that Americans make fun of the French. They don't make fun of Americans, apparently they're too busy picking on the Belgians. I didn't have the heart to tell her about the right-wing conspiracy to squash French companies and the US Representatives' success in renaming 'french fries' to 'freedom fries' in their cafeteria.
I am convinced that if people from different countries could meet and talk and get to know each others' families, hopes and hardships that there would never be war. How could Hiroshima happen if people truly had communication and empathy with the people of that city? How could the Iraq war happen? Yes, Saddam was uprooted but what of thousands upon thousands of innocent citizen casualties?
It saddens me to see that in the age of modern 'communication' the world still seems to be communicating so poorly. Why are we relying on the media giants to feed us a constant diet of fear?
But communication on its own is not enough. If I have empathy for the Iraqi people, but do not understand the complexities of the politics then I don't know how to act. What we need is analysis. By this I do not mean the 'experts' that CNN so readily digs up to blather on and fill the hours. I mean critical analysis. Jon Stewart from The Daily Show is a master at this but he analyzes for irony, not for understanding. Don't get me wrong, I love irony. But we need more. We need in-depth reporting. It's absurd that the more news coverage we get, the more superficial it is. There is 24/7 coverage of a situation but we still don't understand exactly what is happening and why.
I'm not sure what to make of the fact that the world seems to think that the entire city of Paris is engulfed in flames. People have begun cancelling their travel plans. I do not wish to minimize the situation and yet the reality of living here and seeing life as usual despite the issues has made me wonder. How can such a grave situation be represented through sensationalism rather than through understanding and critical thinking? By resorting to such sensationalism, the situation is at once exagerrated and minimized. We imagine the entire city, or country engulfed in a war. And yet we miss the layers of injustices, voices and arguments that has caused and is the only honest way to resolve the problem.
Perhaps this is true of all the headlines. Is life on the Gaza strip actually filled with sunny days and children playing? Because the image it conjures in my mind is of grenades thrown and shots fired. And yet who of us really understands the depth of history, suffering and rage unleashed there? It's like George Orwell once said, "Myths which are believed in tend to become true." Who is controlling our truth today, our 'news'? And why are we letting them?
P.S. I highly recommend George Orwell's essay "Politics and the Englsh Language."
Personally, I am starting to believe that there are two components necessary to understand a situation adequately - communication and analysis. Without communication, one could never feel the agony of an Iraqi family whose loved ones are killed by a U.S. bomb attack. Without communication, we could never hope to unravel the stereotypes that Muslims and Americans have about each other, or even that many Americans have about the French.
When I talk to people, I am often surprised at what I learn. I was stunned by the reaction of Muslims in Tunisia when I told them we were American. Each individual - whether a taxi driver, store owner, or just a man we met on the bus - had the same reaction. They would welcome us and say that they believed people were all the same across the world. In fact, many of them were more concerned about what Americans thought and feared about them than the other way around.
It has been equally surprising to learn that by no means do the French hate Americans, despite what half of people said to us before our move. In my French class once we talked about what nationalities make jokes about each other. My teacher was stunned to learn that Americans make fun of the French. They don't make fun of Americans, apparently they're too busy picking on the Belgians. I didn't have the heart to tell her about the right-wing conspiracy to squash French companies and the US Representatives' success in renaming 'french fries' to 'freedom fries' in their cafeteria.
I am convinced that if people from different countries could meet and talk and get to know each others' families, hopes and hardships that there would never be war. How could Hiroshima happen if people truly had communication and empathy with the people of that city? How could the Iraq war happen? Yes, Saddam was uprooted but what of thousands upon thousands of innocent citizen casualties?
It saddens me to see that in the age of modern 'communication' the world still seems to be communicating so poorly. Why are we relying on the media giants to feed us a constant diet of fear?
But communication on its own is not enough. If I have empathy for the Iraqi people, but do not understand the complexities of the politics then I don't know how to act. What we need is analysis. By this I do not mean the 'experts' that CNN so readily digs up to blather on and fill the hours. I mean critical analysis. Jon Stewart from The Daily Show is a master at this but he analyzes for irony, not for understanding. Don't get me wrong, I love irony. But we need more. We need in-depth reporting. It's absurd that the more news coverage we get, the more superficial it is. There is 24/7 coverage of a situation but we still don't understand exactly what is happening and why.
I'm not sure what to make of the fact that the world seems to think that the entire city of Paris is engulfed in flames. People have begun cancelling their travel plans. I do not wish to minimize the situation and yet the reality of living here and seeing life as usual despite the issues has made me wonder. How can such a grave situation be represented through sensationalism rather than through understanding and critical thinking? By resorting to such sensationalism, the situation is at once exagerrated and minimized. We imagine the entire city, or country engulfed in a war. And yet we miss the layers of injustices, voices and arguments that has caused and is the only honest way to resolve the problem.
Perhaps this is true of all the headlines. Is life on the Gaza strip actually filled with sunny days and children playing? Because the image it conjures in my mind is of grenades thrown and shots fired. And yet who of us really understands the depth of history, suffering and rage unleashed there? It's like George Orwell once said, "Myths which are believed in tend to become true." Who is controlling our truth today, our 'news'? And why are we letting them?
P.S. I highly recommend George Orwell's essay "Politics and the Englsh Language."
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