Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Sat next to some American expats at a bar tonight, reading up on the child rape scandal, while they were talking about Ukraine and Russia this and Ukraine and Russia that: Ukraine stealing Russia's gas, Ukraine pissing Russia off with its pro-NATO stance, etc. Not that these issues don't matter - they do, in many ways. But somehow this reminded me of how surprised I was once by the amount of local coverage in the Washington Post - drugs, crime, etc.: a universe away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other hot topics of the time. As for Ukraine's child rape story - I wish I had access to more info and were able to figure out what and who to believe. But I also wish I didn't know anything about it.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting, Neeka. I actually find that many people in DC are more aware of international issues, say, the Israel-Palestine issue, than what is going on in their own city.

    In turn, many Americans view Ukraine cheifly through the prism of Russia precisely because they aren't reading enough Ukrainian local news.

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  2. Most people in the United States watch TV to find what is going on around them and the world. Most believe the first thing they hear and will not research it for themselves. They are too self absorbed to reach out and find the truth on issues of things happening in their town let alone look around the world to see what is happening.

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