I have been thinking a lot about my college days lately. You will see me mention this in several of my posts here. One of the many things I have been thinking about - specifically - is Foreign Affairs - and how the average American usually has no idea that other things are happening around the world.
Because I was a Journalism student - this is one thing that intrigued me...ABOVE THE FOLD. Many of us know THAT is the "stuff" the people know about. What I noticed was that many stories regarding other counties were small and inconveniently placed on the last page at the bottom or within random advertisements. I made a goal of mine to bring more attention to these stories. I would purposely bring them into my classes and start discussing them.
This was smack dab in the middle of the Clinton Scandal. And quite frankly - I was sick of hearing about it and wanted to hear about something else.
I remember REALLY having to dig for WORLD NEWS and FOREIGN AFFAIRS. As if the death of thousands from an earthquake or massive kidnappings was nothing to be concerned about, ya know? The more I thought about it - the more upset I got. Was it that many Americans didn't care about things happening outside of their country? NOT THIS GIRL!
Fast Forward 15 years...
Oh No! I feel out of touch and it's happening again! I've gotten so caught up in the banter between political parties that I must DIG for news stories! I must once again promise myself to pay more attention to what's happening globally and give more time and attention to the stories that get buried!
But WAIT...it's not 100% our faults! We only read what the media wants us to read, right? We hear what we hear because they push those issues to the front. We read what we read because it's purposely placed there to sell papers.
Regardless...I won't give in...I promise to dig deeper and at least try my best to educate myself and others!