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June 30, 2005
The view from this side.
The jet lag has passed and I am waking up to a very sobering reality.
The British and European news is dominated by two subjects. Global warming and the plight of world poverty.
The G8 conference takes place this weekend in Gleneagles in Scotland and the public pressure being exerted in the participatory leaders is huge, focused by the Live 8 concerts taking place around the world this weekend to coincide with the talks. The mass poulation of Europe is demanding effective and immediate action.
Global warming is also on everyone's lips, from the pubs to the busses. It seems to have precipitated to a crisis point with ordinary people genuinely distressed by the news and figures we are now getting. From all corners of the world the story and figures tell the same story... we are starting to see real indications that the predictions of the scientists of the 80's and 90's are now becoming a terrifying reality, and that we must take a concerted and immediate worldwide effort to turn things around. Some accounts suggest that on some fronts it may already be too late.
There is a common thread to both of these issues. People in Europe are asking "where is America?"
They are confused and angry that the richest country in the world that has gained so much wealth and power from the benefits of cheap labour and raw materials, and contributes a disproportionately large amount of both consumption and pollution is represented only by its deafening silence on these two dire subjects.
We are, of course, under the rule of the mullahs of the Christian jihad. Fundamental Baptists rich from fossil fuels who ironically don't believe in evolution. These are not the Americans I know and love.
I believe that American people are among the most caring and generous people in the world, and if we are given the data needed to assemble a global view we rise to meet the challenge, as with the Asian tsunami disaster.
We however have a media that is driven to entertain, not inform. They will get more viewers and therefore more revenue from covering the titillations of Michael Jackson than leaving us sleepless with worry over doomsday issues. I also tell them that for such a large country, it is a very insular place. The average American citizen has a myopic worldview, again because of the shortfalls of the American TV and press, extending at best to stories of specific U.S. involvement and relegating world news to a few short paragraphs on page twelve...maybe. As Bob Dylan said "money doesn't talk, it swears."
Posted by Andrew at June 30, 2005 12:19 PM