I turned on my computer this morning and as is the case almost every morning, I was disgusted by the “news” headlines on my homepage (good old yahoo!). My husband and I often comment on the fact that somebody somewhere gets to decide what is newsworthy enough to earn a spot on yahoo.com. I’d kind of like to meet this person; to find out where their priorities are. The more I think about this though, the more it becomes clear; their top priority is the same as that of most Americans…money. Celebrity gossip sells way more than current world events. This is not the fault of the person at yahoo deciding which headlines to post; Americans are to blame.
Come on, America, what’s happened to us? We all know what Obama’s doing as far as health care because this would directly affect each of us. We are also aware of the bailouts for major corporations, why is this? Because we hear large sums of money being mentioned, and as true Americans, this always catches our attention. But what about what’s going on overseas? Guess what? We are still at war. How many Americans could say when our troops will be coming home? How many could answer the question of how many casualties have occurred? How many people even know how long we’ve been at war?
I have several theories as to why we as Americans are so ignorant to the state of our nation. First, our government likes it this way and so they keep us in the dark. Everything is censored; we only know what they want us to know. We the people do have power (contrary to popular American belief) and the less we know, the less we will be inclined to use this power. Second, ignorance is bliss. Celebrity issues (Jon and Kate’s failing marriage, Michael Jackson’s death, Brett Favre’s latest drama) are not real to us. They do not directly affect our day-to-day lives and therefore, none of us are going to lose any sleep over them. Would this be the case if we truly understood our government and the war? If we truly knew what direction our country was headed in and what that means to our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. If we took this war personal and thought about all of our people over there dying for a reason most of us don’t understand and/or agree with. Would we be able to sleep at night then? I have more ideas as to why we do what we do but does it really matter? The point is we do it.
How many people actually go out of their way during election times (whether presidential, or those at the state or city level) to understand the candidates? Sure, we catch the commercials that interrupt our favorite sitcom, reality TV show, or sporting event but do any of us take initiative beyond that? Then we use the greatest power our nation allows us and go to the polls and vote uninformed (if we even exercise this power).
Our country needs us. Each and every one of us. No matter which side of the fence we are on (if we’ve even picked a side). We need to educate ourselves (our government sure as hell isn’t going to do this for us. We need to exercise the powers our democracy allows us, and we need to reclaim the pride our country was founded on. I have personally challenged myself to live this pledge and I challenge you to do the same. Do what you’re comfortable doing, vote, write a letter…start small but do something.
*Once again, I was inspired by a blog written by a friend of mine and so I need to give him proper credit. Please check it out! www.bensonjwright@blogspot.com. As a soldier sacrificing his life to fight for those of us so comfortable with our ignorance, he sees things a little differently than most.
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