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On my one and only trip REALLY out of the country (to Thailand) I had my eyes opened wide as to how shallow U.S. News reports are.
I have been to Canada and Mexico (border towns) but I don't really consider that to be out of the country, since the last time I was in Canada was nearly 30 years ago, at the age of six...and Mexican border towns don't really count.
I was in Thailand for three weeks. I spent about a week and a half of that in a hospital (I'd gone over to Thailand specifically to receive a surgery that was "elective" that insurance companies almost universally refuse too cover...and was out of my price range anywhere BUT Thailand...)
Anyway, in that week and a half, when I wasn't doing puzzle books, playing cards, doing my exercises to strengthen myself to speed recovery...or reading books I'd brought along, I watched TV. There were two stations that broadcast in English, both with Thai subtitles. One was Star Movie Channel. The other was BBC News.
Needless to say, as this was around the time of the 2002 elections back home, I spent a lot of that time watching BBC News, so I could get some news from back home. My eyes were opened WIDE as to how filtered and shallow our news in the United States is. If it didn't happen in the United States, or involve some interest of the United States, or happen to Americans living abroad...United States news services either do not cover it...or give it an obligatory 30 seconds buried deep in the newscast. It's like the rest of the world don't matter here in America.
But on BBC...a lot of things got good coverage that I'd never have even HEARD about had I been in the United States...like there had been an earthquake (I believe in Italy) where (I believe) 27 people were killed, when a school got demolished by the quake. It was a very small town in Italy. Anyway, this got extensive coverage on BBC, and I remember thinking, then, geez...I bet American news stations give THAT 20 seconds of coverage, if that much...
And I was appalled. I was appalled to realize that the rest of the world mattered so little to the average American that a story like that would not get more coverage. No we send money and aid, and then forget about them...and the average citizen doesn't even know it happened, and somehow we think that sending the money and aid excuses us from showing any other concern.
The Turkish elections were happening at the same time, and they got extensive coverage, too. I remember thinking that wouldn't even rate FIVE SECONDS on american news outlets! In spite of the fact that power majorly shifted in that election in Turkey. Some party called Justice And Something" got a vast majority of votes. (gimme a break, I'm reporting two year old news, and I no longer remember the full name of the party) but I remember something about it's leader being unable to assume some high office...something about how the old regime had made that party illegal...not really sure anymore.
But, the point is...I saw news when in Thailand, that never woulda gotten covered in the States. Having been in the States for virtually my entire life, I'd never noticed, or known, that our news was so filtered, and so U.S.-centered as to literally show utter contempt and disregard for the rest of the world...(if it didn't happen HERE...or it didn't affect our greedy corporate interests around the world...or it didn't happen to AMERICANS...it isn't important enough to report...)
so, I bet you are right with your assertion that Canadians are far more educated on world affairs than their American counterparts. In fact, so, apparently, are your Thai counterparts. I'd go so far as to say the average Ethopian probably is more cognizant of world affairs than your average American, because, for the most part, our big media has decided that the rest of the world isn't important enough to report on.
Then again, the average attention span of most Americans is depressingly short. It takes blood or fire, or some kind of human-made violence to really attract our attention....somehow, we can't be bothered to care about things like an earthquake that kills 27 schoolchildren in a tiny Italian village...or the Turkish elections in 2002, in spite of them resulting in a huge power shift in Turkey.
This was right around the same time as the attacks in Bali, and I'm betting (I don't know 'cuz I wasn't there) that our news back home was nothing but Bali, bali, bali...oh, the Americans that got killed in Bali (probably most Americans didn't even know the vast majority of those killed were AUSTRALIANS) because our news woulda focussed in on one or two AMERICANS getting killed, and who gave a crap if 65 Australians got killed (or how ever many it was, again, gimme a break, this is two year old news I'm reporting, and it isn't like this stuff got a lot of coverage by the time I got back to the States...) in fact, I doubt it if American news even covered the fact that the Bali attack was TARGETED against Australia. As retribution for Australia's involvement with the United States. United States news probably made big issue of the Americans that got killed, and spun the whole thing to look as though it was the AMERICANS who were targeted, and anyone else who died...well, they just got in the way, they weren't important...it was the AMERICANS that were...
And then we wonder WHY the rest of the world hates us, and calls us "Ugly American..."
Well, you ought to know not all of us Yanks are that way.
But, one could certainly get that impression with how little the Average American seems to know or care what happens in the rest of the world, to foriegners. Know that, for the most part, our corporate-controlled news media keeps us Americans in blissful ignorance.
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