Some Would Say We're Headed For Destruction...

There's a big world out there...and if news sources in the US don't start paying attention, they're going to find themselves with no audience.

Consider the headlines on BBC:
Moussaoui can face death penalty
Taylor pleads not guilty at trial
Thaksin claims Thai election win
Sudan blocks UN Dafar trip
Sharon to have head surgery
Bahrain suspends all boat cruises

Let's see...this is US, West Africa, East Africa, SE Asia and the Middle East.

Here's Yahoo:
Moussaoui found eligible for death penalty
Warrant sought for Rep. McKinney
Supreme Court avoids combatant challenge
Doctors to restore part of Sharon's skull
Australia, China sign uranium agreement
Lay, Skilling lawyers to start their defense
Black-oriented tv has more fast-food ads

Let's see...this is US, US, US, Israel, China, US and US.

And c'mon...that last one is headline news? I suppose it's better than when they throw Britney or Jessica up there as news. But really, it's time to wise up. Almost everyone my age who reads news daily, or almost daily, does not read yahoo or MSN or even CNN. They're looking outward, at the BBC, at CBC, at blogs and online magazines.

However, those that don't are the ones I worry about. I worry about the people who are too lazy to look outside their homepage. They're the ones who have a skewed vision, a vision in which the US occupies 3/4s of the world and Israel, Iraq, China, and maybe England, France and Germany take up 7/8s of that remaining quarter. The tiniest sliver is left for the remaining 201 nations--and usually when they've done something we perceive as threatening. In fact, I'm amazed the Venezuealan oil fields story has yet to show up in US news. Apparently Chavez is the scariest leader since Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas. Oh, yes, Nicaragua is such a major player on the world scene now...those Sandinistas certainly were what was dragging down the country.

It's time to open our eyes. Ignorance may be bliss, but pure stupidity can--and will--eat us alive. We'll be gorging on celebrity gossip and white-collar crime while others starve. Starve from lack of attention. Starve from apathy. Do we really think that if Dafar was on the front cover of every magazine by the checkout--if hungry children and mass graves stared at us rather than news of Angelina's baby and Jen's ability to cope--do we really think that we, as a nation, would be so heartless as to not demand that something be done?

I don't think that we're heartless. I think we are an amazingly compassionate country. We just need to be indulated with images and words. Unfortunately, those words are wasted on Tom Cruise and Tori Spelling.