i should stop listening to NPR or reading the news. It's too depressing.
did i mention that the summer after my first year in law school, one of my assignments for my summer internship was to write an executive memo on the then-recent International Court of Justice's ruling on the Israeli-Palestinian separation barrier? I remember reading the news then, and thinking...things are so bad, they have to get better soon. No such luck.
Here are some interesting facts:
-Hizbollah and Israel have been playing the "kidnap each other's soldiers" game for years. This latest incident, however, was the first time Hizbollah had crossed into Israeli territory to kidnap the soldiers. Source: NPR this morning
-Since Palestinans elected Hamas to lead them several months ago, Israel has been bombing Palestinan-controlled areas regularly. See here, here and here.... et cetera.
-People are still being massacred in Iraq. Baghdad Burning writes all about it.
9 comments:
You mean, “I live in a bubble”. Take some responsibility for your ignorance!
Hm.
By "we live in a bubble," I meant that it's oftentimes hard for me to believe, even though I hear of it on the radio or read it in the news, that the atrocities that happen outside the US are real. Because though I see it on TV, it doesn't affect my life in any tangible way, except maybe paying a few more bucks at the gas station.
When I look out my window, I see palm trees and ocean. When people like BEYFlyer (mentioned in the post below) look out their window, they see the shit being bombed out of Beiruit airport.
It was not until I visited the minefields of Cambodia did I see beggars with their limbs hanging off them in stumps, and Pol-Pot's regime became something a little more real than a lead pencil smudge on a history test. It wasn't until I spent thousands of hours volunteering for immigrant farmers in Mexico, generations of whom live their entire lives in cardboard shacks, that I realized the true cost of my salad veggies.
The "bubble" is the very sad fact that if I stopped reading certain news websites, and stopped listening to certain radio stations, and stopped travelling...I simply wouldn't find out about the atrocities that happen each and every single day to the majority of the population of this world.
Do you disagree?
As an American, I have the abiliy to choose between seeking information about the "outside," or simply ignoring it--and I it makes me so concerned that some people choose to ignore.
I've had more than a few people ask me why I care about what happens outside this country...and why I bother to ever leave the US. I think it's a tragedy that it's not uncommon for people in this country to think this way.
One law student whom a lot of us at school know famously quoted: "why would I ever need to subscribe to and read TIME, or The Economist, or Newsweek? I'm not ugly! Only ugly people need to read those things." Sigh.
Maybe you do live in a war-torn area, in which case, you have every right to say I, as opposed to "we," live in a bubble. Because I, and a lot of other people in this country, do. But if you live in the US--wouldn't you agree that this place sometimes resembles Truman's world?
Hey, not that I'm complaining about living in a safe place. Just that--the more I read, the more I'm convinced America is this little island of ignorance in a sea of suffering people who for the most part hate our guts. Wouldn't a synonym for that be...bubble? Just travel anywhere else in the world--anywhere!--and ask the locals what they think about our government.
I should add that my comment about not reading the news or listening to NPR anymore was totally in jest. As all who know me can attest, I'm quite the international affairs junkie. Law school puts that on the back burner sometimes, but it's certainly one of my loves in life.
Ignorance is something that happens when you close yourself to the world, and to the opinions of others. I try my best not to do that.
Glad you stopped by to read, but surprised you'd come to such a hasty judgment.
You rambled way too long and most importantly you missed the point. You are like typical bubble American that likes to hear her self speak (look at me I help people for free in Cambodia and Mexico). You believe that what you say represents everybody in America. We the people are in a bubble… ha ha ha you are a funny OC girl!
I agree.
Although I try not to be "typically American," I do realize that it's something that, given the fact that I was born in and have grown up in America, it's somthing that isn't very easy for me to do. And that's part of the reason I try to do it.
I realize that a lot of the privileges I come across, the majority of the world will never see--which is (partly) why I try to spend that money in other parts of the world. I do apologize because prior to your last comment, I had assumed that you were...well...someone else who I knew here in California.
For the record, I actually didn't help people in Cambodia, other than visitng the country and spending tourist dollars there.
And I only wish that what I said represented the sentiment of everybody in America. Unfortunately, a good number of people I know have no idea what is going on outside of our county's borders. We have the luxury of not knowing--and that's dangerous.
I weclome your comments, and please, email me at shardsofadream@gmail.com. I would love to continue this discussion.
I admit, in so many ways I'm an ignorant, funny American girl--but I'm constantly striving to be more aware.
It's better to be ignorant and know and admit it, than to be ignorant and deny it, correct? :)
Dear Anonymos,
Being rude to someone that is trying to explain to you her thoughts nicely is, well, rude. It's not everyday that you can hurl personal insults at people and still have that person tell you that you have a good point.
No, she does not represent everyone in this country, and I certainty hope that you do not represent yours.
I second that Jean. Anonymous definitely has issues, self-righteousness being only one of them.
Hey Jean, I think that Anonymous' point was to be insulting. It is easy to hurl insults and judge.
Anonymous: Perhaps no one understands your point because you weren't clear. How dare you judge someone based solely on a blog. How very narrow minded of you. And you accuse Americans of being ingonrant.
my grandma always tells me not to respond to rudeness with rudeness, and i really really try, because i think it's a good character-builder, and responding diplomatically to criticism gets your point across better than retaliatory crassness, especially when important issues like international affairs are on the table...but all the same, it's so hard...it's so hard not to tell anonymous to shutthefuckup.
oops.
It says a lot about the random blog hater who goes by the name "Anonymous" that he/she/it has chosen to drop in to make some condescending insults, and not even sign his/her/its name to it.
Anyways, Anonymous: there is no need to dignify your fatuity with any more commentary. You're a sad little person, so just shut your piehole and do your pathetic trolling elsewhere.
Post a Comment