What is going on? And why aren’t we hearing about it?
There is no way to start this off. I have no words to express my shock, disappointment, and sadness over what I’m about to write. I was just doing my nightly Twitter check, I try to catch up on news/funny posts before bed, and I happened across a quick tweet on the Iranian election. There are huge protests, people are being beaten and killed over there over the election process. They are protesting an election that appears to have been fixed. The turnout for the election was around 85% according to the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8099115.stm), however the current president, who is a anti-semite who has said that the Holocaust wasn’t real by the way (look him up, I don’t remember when/where the articles were, I connected from the Drudge Report a while ago though), won 63% to 34%. His opponents followers have been rallying. Internet has essentially been cut off, cell phones are showing emergency only (@Change_for_Iran on Twitter.com), and videos are starting to circulate on Youtube of the riots that are happening (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUxmr3xQoX4 and related videos).
Now, I just happened to see a post @McCainBlogette about it on Twitter. Someone had called her out on the fact that she wasn’t writing about it. The problem? No one was. CNN and other American news networks hadn’t started reporting on it yet. Not well anyway. The main report on CNN.com is that “White House monitoring ‘reports of irregularities’ in Iran” and the only other one I see on the front page, using the search option of my web browser, is an iReport that doesn’t say much and has four pictures.
Why does this happen? Why do we pick and choose what affairs we pay attention to in other countries? Why is it when there are people dying for protesting what appears to be a fixed election we don’t even report on it, but the FCC getting “300,000 Calls as Analog TV Disappears” is breaking news? Why is Iran a small headline three or four down on a side of the page that you have to search to find? Why did we not report on genocide in Rwanda? Why didn’t we report on child soldiers in Uganda? Why are the only people paying attention to these issues either private parties or, if they are big news and media, too late to help?
Honestly, all I can manage to think right now is to pray to God, asking Him to be with all the people caught in this conflict, and thanking Him that I live in a country where I am not the majority politically, can protest, and know that I am safe in doing so. I know that I am privileged in a way most people in most places in the world dream of. I am a white female, from a middle class family. I am the daughter of two families that have been here for more than one generation, daughter of a retired Marine, college educated, and a protestant. These things give me advantages, like never wanting for anything in life, as well as things that we here consider disadvantages. As a woman I will most likely never get paid as well as a man in the same job roll does. I have the right to protest that fact though, and I have the right to vote, in truly free elections. I am encouraged to and have the right to speak out. I know that if I am silenced, I can fight back. I know that no part of the government or person can keep me from expressing myself, even if they don’t agree. I know that I can make statements on topics like same sex marriage, abortion, the President, and other issues without fearing for my life. I also believe in the foundation of this country, a government of the people, for the people and by the people. I know this all may sound optimistic and idealistic to some, but it’s what I believe and how I feel. I may not always agree with the decisions made by government, but I know that there is always a way to try to fix what I don’t like. Days like today, being able to write things like this and post them online, knowing anyone can read them, make me proud of my country and my background. I thank God and all the people who have worked so hard and/or died for the freedoms we have here.
