Sheltered Media

When scrolling through the headlines on Flipboard—a mobile news application—I found several riveting stories. Obamacare is still being attacked in the House of Representatives, a notable cookbook author passed away, and over 50 college students were gunned down in a terrorist attack in Nigeria. This last headline struck me, not only because of the terrible news it relayed, but also because of its placement. Although it was a very recent story, it appeared low down on the list of news for the day, below an announcement of Samsung’s upcoming ‘smart-watch’ project.And it’s not just Flipboard.Although I’m not going to go so far as to say that news sources lie to us, there is no denying that they put emphasis on rather unimportant things while almost ignoring other stories. In some cases, celebrity gossip is shown in more detail and with more hype than updates on the situation in Syria, or governmental policy that could affect millions. What does this say about the things Americans care about? Is the general public really more interested in Miley Cyrus than a mass bombing in Pakistan?That’s not entirely true. We do care about these types of issues, but only when it’s within our borders, only when we fear that it could spill over onto us. You all remember the assembly last year when Principal Hassan led us in a moment of silence for the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. While this terrible tragedy certainly deserves recognition, where are the moments of silence for these fifty college students in Nigeria, or the victims of the Navy Yard shooting in Kenya?People die in terrible ways every day—not only victims of murder or terrorism but also natural disasters and other accidents. We take note of them, commenting on the sadness and awful injustice, but never taking anything to heart. But suddenly gunfire erupts in our own peaceful little country, and Facebook is flooded with sympathy posts.We have it easy, living where we do. We are—for the most part—sheltered from the death and destruction that takes place all over the world. We have become far too complacent living in the first world. We take for granted our safety and removal from these awful acts, and when something does disturb our perfect bubble, we get incredibly worked up.Of course it is completely incorrect to assume that all U.S. citizens turn a blind eye to tragedies outside of our country. There are numerous groups and individuals within America that provide awareness and aid to the victims of these disasters, helping to enlighten the general population. Sadly, however, it seems that the average American is more concerned with the stock market trends that with the deaths of hundreds.As I live in Colorado, I received numerous concerned inquiries about my family and my house over the last few days. From this and many other examples, I have witnessed Americans’ capacity for great sympathy and empathy. If only we could extend this care to those outside of our nation more often, we could solve our problems of poor prioritizing. As a population we are some of the best-informed people in the world, but we waste this privilege on unimportant things. If we could turn our efforts and our knowledge outward to the rest of the world, average American citizens could make an incredible difference in the world. 

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Signs of Missed Opportunity

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Inherent Rights: Contraception