thefutureisred

No More Gawkers: When Will We Forget About Japan?

I'm sitting here in Argentina, landlocked, about as far away from the seismically active Ring of Fire as a person can get. I am not directly affected by the destruction on the other side of the world, so I watch the news.

And I can't help but wonder when we'll stop talking about Japan.

Every media outlet is reporting every new shake of the ground, showing photos of bodies being pulled from the rubble and posting videos of enormous waves engulfing the coast of Sendai.

But when will we forget?

When is the last time Haiti made the front page? Have the effects of last year's quake been mitigated? Is Chile fine? Indonesia? Peru? What about New Zealand? The earthquake in Christchurch happened less than a month ago and are we still talking about it?

Yes, some people still are. In fact, my list of to-do for this week includes preparing two blog posts for Matador Life about Christchurch for Blog4NZ, a grassroots blogger effort to bring support to the area. Pisco Sin Fronteras, a Peruvian volunteer force set up through Burners Without Borders, continues to work to fix the damage from the 2007 earthquake that destroyed 80% of the area.

But you don't see it in the news.

What do we see in the news?

Last night, one of the Matador team e-mailed around a video of a woman, supposedly from some religous group, thanking God for the earthquake. Apparently, they prayed for a sign from God to teach the athiests of the world a lesson.Personally, I think this video is a hoax. That doesn't make it any less disgusting.

And I am proud to say that Matador, without hesitation decided not to post the video even though it was on the cusp of going viral. Even though publicizing it could have brought in huge hits and publicity for Matador. We would have been the first to post it but said no. 

Since last night, Gawker published it as have other media outlets. I'm proud to say that I'm part of a media organization with integrity.

What does Gawker hope to gain by posting this video? Is it helpful? Does it bring attention to a story that people need to hear? Is there any reason the people of the United States need to watch a video in which a young woman goes on and on about how happy she is for the destruction we're seeing all over the news?

It reminds me of how after September 11, as two massive plumes of smoke poured upward from the once World Trade Center, we heard reports of people all over the Middle East dancing and celebrating. The news reports, too, remind me of that time. It brings back painful memories.

It makes me sad and anxious. It pisses me off badly. 

Yesterday, my friend Mike Lynch, who lives in Okinawa, posted wildlife photos he's taken in Japan. He posts them because he cannot look anymore and urges that we all wait patiently as rescue efforts continue and Japan takes stock of the damage done.

What Japan doesn't need, I can tell you.  They don't need Uncle Bill cleaning out his yard sale collection to send over as a charitable donation.  They don't need some major pharmaceutical company to write off a big donation of drugs with an expiration date of next month.  And they don't need anymore news reporters, cameramen, travel writers or anybody else going after the big story.

No more gawkers.

I think that says it all. Mike goes on to say:

We need to let those on the scene do their work without clogging up their transportation and logistical systems.  They will ask for help where and when it is needed.

It is human nature to show sympathy and want to help those in distress, I know.  I want to help, too.  We just have to be patient if we really want to help.  Wait.

I only hope by that time, the rest of the world hasn't moved onto something else.

Photo by jchong

I Don't Usually Like Americans, But You're Different

I’m often in a position where I’m the only American in the group which means I'm often asked to represent for all Americans.

Just recently, a friend of ours mentioned to Noah that whenever there's a big Couchsurfing asado at someone's house, it’s generally the Americans who will assume that it’s just a free dinner and there’s no need for them to pitch in for payment, clean up or preparation. A few weeks ago, we had a Belgian, an Argentine, one Canadian and one person from Poland in the house, and when the subject rose again, all four guests reluctantly admitted they find Americans to be the most rude when traveling.

“I Usually Don't Like Americans But You're Different"

I cannot tell you how many times I've heard this, and while it’s nice to be told that I’m an exception to being rude and unlikeable, I am as uncomfortable with the stereotyping as I would be were someone to say that Asians are bad drivers, Germans have weird sexual proclivities and the English have bad teeth because they drink too much.

I'm also pretty proud to be American even when I don't agree with the politics or president. It's a unique culture full of people who have grown up with the ideology that anything is possible, that anyone can do anything. 

Yet, I’ve also had similar experiences with the Couchsurfers and guests we’ve had in our house. Rarely a week goes by when our spare bedroom and couch are empty, and while we rarely have bad guests, the only ones I can name are American.

Remove A Senator From Office By Shooting An M16?

Now there’s this recent shooting in Arizona, blamed by many on the political rhetoric of the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and people like Jesse Kelly, Giffords' Republican opponent in the last election. Kelly hosted an event titled "Get On Target For Victory In November. Help Remove Gabrielle GIffords From Office. Shoot A Fully Automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

There's a fine line between our US government given constitutional rights and plain old fashioned self-entitlement.

I have no issue with people who want to carry and use weapons, provided they are using them properly and with oversight and experience. I have no problem with political protest. In fact, I am tickled that anyone can say pretty much what they want and not be hauled away in the middle of the night.

But comparisons of World War II Nazis to health care reform or slogans like “Don’t Retreat, Reload” smack of faulty logic to me.

When the American Dream Hits a Mental Health Glitch

During a discussion between Matador colleagues after the shooting took place, one editor said this sort of thing makes her feel "desperate about being American."

Kate Sedgwick, Matador Nights' editor who blogs at Yes There Is Such A Thing As A Stupid Question raises another point regarding the way the US treats the mentally ill and how voices claiming that guns are the way to solve issues directly address those who perhaps have no other recourse.

The US is the petri dish where people feel that the only way to do anything worth a shit is to be featured in the 24 hour news cycle and volatility and violence are what gets attention.  When politicians use and encourage violent rhetoric, you better believe people are going to get killed.  And what makes this different from long term political and religious wars?  The fact that there was nothing to fight against in the first place....

These killers are lost souls who crave recognition and something greater than themselves, and they find it in the likes of Glenn Beck. They don't even have a belief system. There is no support, No one is even there to notice that this shit is about to happen.  Isolated with paranoid, poisonous rhetoric they can do with what they will are the only voices that come close to matching the anger within them. I do believe this is an American phenomenon.

Is It the Same As Crying Fire In the Proverbial Crowded Movie Theater?

Of course, no one would be spurred to mass murder simply by the words of these pundits, but perhaps our political and ideological leaders have a responsibility to curtail what they say in order to avoid what seems to be an ever increasing violence in American culture.

So who are we as Americans? What do we stand for? And if we should be calling for change, what changes would you like to see?

Photos by Gideon Tsang and Uhuru1701

Tread Softly On My Dreams: The Education Crisis Revolution

I'm currently reading a book by Maya Frost titled The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition and Get a Truly International Education. In it, she describes the nature of the adolescent mind, how in our teen years our brains open to growth potential that is left largely ignored by the current education system in the United States.

The following paragraph resonated particularly strongly with me on many levels.

Our kid's brains are ravenous for content that will lend itself to analysis, and yet we're sticking them into a world that is so limited they are reduced to examining hairstyles and hook-ups instead of more challenging fare. Instead of analyzing culture, politics or world affairs on a daily basis, they're prognosticating about prom dates. They zero in on the fit of their jeans rather than on the fit of a cultural identity within a larger population,and they devote hours to enhancing the clarity of their skin instead of the clarity of their thinking. They are digging into a plate of pettiness because that is precisely what we've served them. They deserve -- and are ready for -- so much more.

It struck me when I read this that the image of the typical obnoxious teen who lives only to text her friends and meet at the mall is something we take for granted. We assume it is the case, because that is what we see around us. In fact, it is entirely possible we amplify that image because we expect it.

But it is not a given.

Following on that little piece of food for thought, I want to share with you a recent TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson about education. In it he calls for the complete revolution of our international education system, now based on a "fast food module." By that, he refers to the standardization and structuring of most systems of education that overlook the needs of the individual.

It starts with the pressure we feel as parents to make sure our children place well into pre-school and goes from there.

That pressure is one of the reasons I wanted to leave New York City. I couldn't see putting LIla through interviews, essays and evaluation play dates, all for the pleasure of paying $20K for a 2-year-old to go to school. It is too painful.

We take for granted that our model is one we must adhere to because it is what we know, and while that model has served us well in many aspects, we must still continue to evaluate and re-evaluate. It's on us as parents, educators and students to identify that which is no longer working and prune the excess.

The pain we experience while pushing our toddlers into pre-school and again when encouraging them to take AP courses and to ace the SAT is a sign something isn't quite right. Embracing a new system is never easy, though. It is another form of letting go.

Photo by HVX Silverstar

Art or Pornography? You Tread On Thin Ground

I published an article yesterday on Matador Life about The Most Obscene Debate On the Internet. While that article sparked massive debate about the nature of privacy, cultural relativism and whether personal modesty and sexual repression are distinct entities or undeniably tied together, there was at least one very important topic I didn't cover.

I met artist Kate Hansen through the Facebook while researching an article discussing Facebook and the banning of breastfeeding photos. One series of her paintings titled Madonna and Child Project depicts very intimate moments between mother and child.

That those moments often include paintings of mothers breastfeeding lead to the removal of those paintings from Facebook under the heading of obscene, possibly pornographic.

Kate wrote the following letter to Facebook in response to the deletion of her artwork.

I have to protest the deletion of my work from a group of artwork dedicated to the human figure. If you have a look at the group, you might note that many artworks there are full nudes, far more explicit than anything I posted.

I happen to think your reasons for deletion are less about nudity and more about an unfair policy against the breastfeeding subject matter of my work. I think you need to rethink your policy as it is a very blatant discrimination against the female perspective on the figure. You also need to consider the differences between art and pornography.

You tread thin ground.

Kate allowed me to post her paintings here.

Do you find them to be obscene? Should they be removed from Facebook under what Facebook terms "hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence." Or is or these paintings examples of legitimate artwork that should have it's place with other works of fine art?

Lies, Lies, It's All Lies! And Other Media Conspiracies!

Is it me or is the headline of Obama rescheduling his meeting with the Dalai Lama simply not news? Certainly not worthy of being front page Yahoo!

I also recently saw a TV news story on CNN about the International Monetary Fund meeting in Turkey. Basically, a reporter was standing in a tear gas filled street. He could barely talk, and we watched him run down the street to get to a place where he could breath again. Was three to five minutes of watching a man choke truly necessary? 

I suppose I've always been skeptical of what I read, hear on radio or see on TV and online, but I can track my strong distrust of the media to one particular date.

9/11/2001.

When I saw exactly what unedited media looks like. We heard and sometimes saw reporters on the scene. We felt them fight their natural reaction to run, and we heard the horror in their voices. News unfolded in real time, real life, because no one had a clue what was going on. There was no time to design glitzy graphics and taglines.

Then when things settled down a bit, the news became measured and slick once again. We returned to headlines of Mission Accomplished and Shark Attacks Up Again this year. And silly tales of how Sanjay Gupta contracted swine flu.  Swine flu -- aka H1N1 aka Hamthrax --another media kickstart frenzy.

Of course, how NY State now mandates the H1N1 vaccine for all healthcare workers, we don't hear so much. But it may be enough to make many NYC nurses, including a good friend of mine, quit their jobs. Which would mean fewer nurses in an already hurting field.

But things like Ahmedinejad possibly being a Jew? Who cares if he's a hypocrite? As my Muslim friend Ali -- or is his name Mohammed? -- says, "Jews and Muslims were cousins anyway?" And don't get me started on the Letterman revelation. Ok, I'm sorry, i can't resist. Jaded-me thinks this is one of the best examplese of tailored PR since the Jen-Brad-Angie debacle-drama. But I digress...

I don't exactly consider myself part of the news media, but i do know a bit about choosing images and topics for general publication. I prefer honesty, word and image that represent truth as closely as truth can be represented.

So back to Obama and the Dalai Lama? Is it so rare that a president would postpone a meeting, even with someone as high profile as the Dalai Lama,that it's not only worth mentioning, but worth splashing across the front page of everyone's browser? Or is there another agenda behind this sort of article? One that is perhaps designed to mislead instead of inform?

On reading the article, yes, you learn that it all has to do with the delicate balance between the US relationship with China and the role Tibet plays in that. But again, does posting the story itself turn what might have been a minor point into a major issue?