Like many people, I have been keeping up to date on the horrors coming out of Ukraine. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a healthy distrust of the mainstream media so I am very careful about where I get my news from and even then I take it with a grain of salt. However, I’ve been running across some stories claiming that we and the media are racist. We only care about the plight of Ukrainians because they are white, Europeans. I don’t consider myself a racist but this statement gave me pause as I considered if this could be true.
The mainstream media shows us what the corporations that control them want us to see. True statement. If you don’t believe it, do some research. You might be shocked at what you find. Most major media outlets also put some kind of political spin on the news reported. Since both of those statements are true, could our perceived lack of caring as individuals be not racism but lack of exposure. If we assume it is lack of exposure, is the mainstream media to blame or are we to blame for only ingesting what the easy to find news is dishing out instead of searching for the real news that is out there?
In response to this racism accusation, some in the media have defended themselves by saying that the Ukrainian situation has more of an impact on the United States than say other horrific situations around the globe which is why it is being covered more than an Afghanistan or Syria or even Rwanda back in the day. I would point to 9-11. What more serious impact can befall a country than something like that? So we should care just as much about Afghanistan and Syria and even Rwanda.
Isn’t human suffering, human suffering? Does a Ukrainian suffer more than a Syrian? Not to belittle the situation at all because it is horrible, but I would argue that the Ukrainians are actually suffering LESS than the Syrians. Ukrainian refugees are being welcomed with open arms into other countries. Was that the case for Syrians? Being forced to flee your country is never an ideal situation but to know you can’t go back to your old country and are not wanted in your new one must be a demoralizing feeling.
I didn’t really understand the plight of some of these other groups because they aren’t widely covered by major media outlets and I didn’t care enough to go looking for the information. That is on me. I can blame the media for a lot, which would all be true, but the buck stops with me on this one.
I learned about the suffering of Syrian refugees and various groups of Africans by READING. Not reading news stories or bland, non-fiction books but by reading fictional stories that are about fictional characters but describe actual events. Books that aren’t about people like me but are about groups I don’t know too much about. It’s true, I can relate to a character that is like me but I can develop an understanding when I read books that are not about someone like me. This understanding then helps me move on to empathy which is where I am in my above arguments. I’ll post some of my favorites related to this topic below this post. This is what makes me so mad about censorship and banning books. We can’t gain an understanding if we don’t have access to that information. We can’t grow as individuals if we are always looking in the mirror and never looking through the window into someone else’s experiences.
As I hope we will start to learn soon with Covid too, we can’t just stick our head in the sand forever, censor information that doesn’t fit the political vernacular and hope that it goes away. We need to fight for the TRUTH. I assure you, the truth is out there, it just requires more work to find because it has been censored from mainstream and social media. Are we as a society ready to do that work? I don’t think we are yet, but if we all take some time to look away from the mirror and into the window of another, we’ll get there.
Remember this which I saw recently in a meme, “All scientists agree when you censor the ones that don’t.” That can apply in any situation. You just need to ask yourself, is that real science or real life if everyone agrees? AND, do you have the courage to look through the window of those who don’t agree to find some understanding which will lead you down the path to truth?
Books for future reading:
A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi*
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Nwaubani
A Cave in the Clouds by Badeeah Hassan Ahmed
*If you like this book The Secret Sky by the same author is a fantastic Romeo and Juliet in Afghanistan story.
I’m sure I’ll have more suggestions as I keep reading to look through those windows. Just ask if you want to learn more than this initial glimpse.
