How You See the World: Part -47
Genferei's post, below, raises an important question:
I ask, once again, how is a well-intentioned foreigner (who hasn't had the luck to stumble upon Ricochet) going to learn real facts about America if this is the only source-material they have ready access to? How does the truth get out? Because what foreigners believe really does matter. (But perhaps that is the topic of another post.)
There is an equally important inverse question:
I ask, once again, how is a well-intentioned American (who hasn't had the luck to spend pretty much her whole adult life living in places most Americans don't) going to learn real facts about countries that are in their own ways as complex as America--but very different--if their media, which is often controlled, is the only source-material they have ready access to? How does the truth get out? Because what Americans believe really does matter.
I truly don't know how to solve this problem. This survey--published today in Hürriyet Daily News--gives you a sense of something important:
After surveying 67 journalists from various media outlets, such as Milliyet, Hürriyet, Zaman, Taraf, Sabah, Habertürk and Sözcü, 85.1 percent of the journalists surveyed said censorship and self-censorship are definitely common in the Turkish media while 14.9 percent said it was fairly common.
When it comes to the actors intervening in the news-making process, 95 percent of the journalists surveyed said the government intervenes and 89 percent said the media owners do. The report also highlighted the change in the shift of power actors that intervene in the news-making process. The report said in the past the military had a strong influence on controlling news stories; however, now the power seems to have shifted toward the police.
But to make sense of that story, start with the obvious: They published that article, didn't they? So, what is it--a fundamentalist police state, or a place where fascist coup-plotters plant dark propaganda to defame the peace-loving, tolerant government? Or neither? Or both?
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Feb '10
Re: How You See the World: Part -47
Claire,
As you point out, reality is always far more complex than any model we make of it. It would most likely be neither and both. It may be a fundamentalist police state, but it sounds like it is not to an absolute degree. I'm sure there are fascist coup-plotters somewhere in there, but are they everyone?
All that is not to say models are useless, nor that everything is relative. Models and generalizations can be very useful, but everyone should just be aware of their limitations.
Of course you know this better than I do, having lived there and seen all the different things that go on and the people and their varied opinions.
How do we solve Americans' ignorance of the world, and vice versa? More foreign language study, more exchange student programs, and more travel abroad (college semesters abroad, etc.) would go a long way.
But I think the real problem is the hedonistic culture here, such that too many Americans don't really have the energy to even care to learn about the rest of the world.
There, that's my contribution to our civilization's self-criticism for the day. I hope a foreigner doesn't read it and assume everyone in America is a hedonist-- we have many, many excellent, kind and decent folks here too. Remember, generalizations never fully reflect reality.
Edited on August 11, 2011 at 2:48pmRe: How You See the World: Part -47
Yes, I fear you're right about the last part. Or they care, but have a sense of the rest of the world being enormously far away--which is technically true, but it's not as far away as they think.
More language study, yes. More exchange student programs and travel? I'd say so, but generally when people can afford to travel, they want to go on vacation, and vacation resorts are as far from the reality of a place as you can generally get. Parents want to send their kids to places they think are safe, which is understandable. They're not really going to spend money to send their kids to spend their junior years in Iran, are they?
I don't know how to solve this one.
Oct '10
Re: How You See the World: Part -47
There's really only one way to do this Claire and you are doing it - go live somewhere for a while, observe and absorb and viola! Understanding arrives eventually via patience and hard work, same as always. This means, of course, that you can't understand everywhere or everything but that doesn't mean we shouldn't understand some places of somethings, does it?
Jan '11
Re: How You See the World: Part -47
Is this really a problem? I have misconceptions about my relatives and neighbors, my local personal politics are complex as well. I'm embarrassed to admit I spend more time trying to understand the debt ceiling, riots in Europe, socialized medicine in Canada, what "people" in Venezuela think about Chavez and a host of other issues than I do trying to figure out what the 8 year old thinks about her 16 year old sister having sex.
If we just mind our own beeswax our interactions with neighbors who did likewise would be just fine.
Re: How You See the World: Part -47
How do you define "our own beeswax?"
Yeah...ok.: Is this really a problem? I have misconceptions about my relatives and neighbors, my local personal politics are complex as well. I'm embarrassed to admit I spend more time trying to understand the debt ceiling, riots in Europe, socialized medicine in Canada, what "people" in Venezuela think about Chavez and a host of other issues than I do trying to figure out what the 8 year old thinks about her 16 year old sister having sex.
If we just mind our own beeswax our interactions with neighbors who did likewise would be just fine. · Aug 11 at 7:22am
Jan '11
Re: How You See the World: Part -47
Claire,
Humble apologies. I suppose I overreacted to the extensive coverage of the riots in Great Britain and killings in Oslo. Certainly there are things we can learn from these events but I think we have enough local issues that remain unresolved that I think we do disservice to ourselves devoting so much energy to these events. If a neighbor asks for assistance, by all means we should try to help. But if the neighbors are having an argument then I'm not so worried if I do not understand if she spends too much or he drinks too much. Unless I'm asked to arbitrate or if they set their house alight and the blaze may danger others, I should not concern myself with their quarrels. Sorry. The depressing news of late has released my isolationist leanings. It seems guys like Victor David Hanson have thoroughly studied history and culture yet we make the same mistakes. Perhaps my position is one of those mistakes.
It seems I can not define my own beeswax.
Edited on August 11, 2011 at 6:59pmFeb '10
Re: How You See the World: Part -47
Sounds great. Problem is, that's not what happens. We live in a globalized world, and there are plenty of people not interested in just minding their own business.
Moreover, partly because of misinformation from their media, and partly because of actual American ignorance and meddling, many foreigners don't think we are minding our own business-- with some reason.
The best thing may be to experience each others' cultures as they really are, not as filtered through media or through some imam's rantings. The alternative, isolationism, is probably not possible anymore.
May '10
Re: How You See the World: Part -47
Myself, I find a Claire-Turkey for each country and soak it up. Judith Levy in Israel (reinforced by a lot of others), Steyn, my daughter and several others for the UK, Tim Blair for Australia, etc.
But at some point you have to elect people to handle foreign policy for our country, based on the wisdom of their staffs.