Many students are well-aware of the corruption taking place in foreign countries, through the regularly-televised news. Both students and adults in the country get their daily dose of current events.
As individuals, we assume that we know exactly what is happening in the world. But I beg to differ. When it comes down to it, how much corruption are we Americans truly aware of?
The story of Youcef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor in Iran, has been slowly gaining more publicity in America. A few years ago, Nadarkhani was accused of being a traitor for conforming to Christianity. He has been awaiting the answer from Iranian officials of whether he would be killed or not. Iran now claims that the Christian Pastor will not be executed.
Surely, this action was surprising. An event like this seems to be a rarity. However, this incident is far from rare. In fact, people are killed nearly every day in Iran for religious purposes.
The media, it seems, took years to make Nadarkhani’s story prominent. This leaves me wondering, how many other important people are suffering that the media is ignoring?
Newscasters on television tell us plenty about the politics in the United States. I believe that the news needs to focus on foreign issues more often. If the public was well aware of worldly events, we Americans would able to unite for the greater cause.
For example, the story of the Invisible Children has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Students and youth checking into social networks have learned of Joseph Kony, the man leading the operation.
Invisible Children is in support of a group of abducted, lost children that Kony takes for his own sake. They are forced under his wing and demanded to carry out daunting tasks. These poor children are forced to kill their own parents and other civilians as well. They are abused, brainwashed and indoctrinated into justifying their actions under Kony’s power.
This operation has been going on for 26 years. Seven years ago the story started to spread through America. However, some Americans are still unaware of it. Even I did not know about this operation until merely a couple weeks ago.
If the media has failed to stress the importance of such an operation to Americans, it makes me wonder how much more the media overlooks.
I recently talked to Zariah Davis, ’13, who shared her experience in Iran with me. There, Davis came across events she never believed could happen.
“I expected Iran to be a poor country with a lot of fighting,” Davis said. “When I got there it was scary. The buildings were covered in bullet holes, curse words and upside down crosses. There was fighting, and a lot of violence and soldiers standing around too.”
Of course, as an outsider, students expect this much to be happening, right? The videos shown on the news seem to be what the reality in Iran is like. Yet, the news does not specifically tell us the corruption taking place in Iran. We are aware of the strict culture,and the garb — women must wear long dresses and veils to cover their faces.
“I saw a girl probably our age walking around in a T-shirt and jeans and my dad told me to hurry away because she was going to be stoned to death,” Davis said.
This brings me to an important question: how often does the media focus on such topics? If youth in foreign countries are being killed in such horrible ways for such small things, why is that not a problem that is stressed?
Currently, the news has been focusing on the Presidential campaign, or what seems to only be the campaigns. When turning on the television to the news channels, they are all about who is leading or falling behind in the polls.
Now, don’t get me wrong — the polls are definitely an important topic to talk about. Americans need to know everything about the candidates running for president. However, when the polls become the only topic covered, what does it become? A popularity contest for the candidates, really.
I watch the news a lot, and have noticed that only about 10 minutes of a one-hour cast is about world news and real stuff happening in the world. Comparing what is shown on television to what she witnessed in person, Davis sees great disparity.
“The news on TV shows nothing,” Davis said. “When I was in Iran, it felt like a movie at first. I saw people get killed, shot, and raped. It felt like I was in a movie, but what I saw was real; the news tells us nothing.”
Has the news really checked out in such a way to blind the public from the real world? Is it time we have a reality check, and focus on other countries? America needs our prayer and focus, but foreign countries do too.
For more opinions, read the March 30 article, EDITORIAL: Climbing the ladder of maturity and the March 29 article, Values amidst the technology age.
