Issue Fatigue (4/18/05)
by Dean Hartwell
So much is going on in current events that it is hard to sort through it. So many issues confront us that we become “issue fatigued.” Here is my guide to current events and how much of our attention each is really worth.
The Michael Jackson case. This trial is yet another involving a high profile celebrity and sensational charges. Whether or not Jackson goes to prison actually affects relatively few people. The media attention on this case serves to distract us from more pressing issues at hand. I refuse to pay it much attention for that reason.
The John Bolton and John Negroponte Congressional hearings. The mainstream media continue to tell us that both men will be confirmed for UN Ambassador and Director of National Intelligence, respectively. However, members of the alternative media, like Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio, have focused more upon skeletons in the closets of both of them.
According to Goodman, one witness at the hearings described Bolton as a “kiss up, kick-down sort of guy” who pressured subordinates to write conclusions favorable to his personal opinions, such as his idea that Cuba had biological weapons in 2002 (Democracy Now! - Bolton). As for Negroponte, Goodman reminded listeners of his connections to illegally aiding the Contras of Nicaragua and of Honduran death squads (Democracy Now! - Negroponte).
These are serious charges, which, if true, could affect the whole nation. With Bolton as the Ambassador to the United Nations, he may not be reliable in presenting accurate information to that body on behalf of the United States. With Negroponte in charge of national intelligence, he could misuse information to prop up dictators around the world or overthrow legitimately elected ones as the Central Intelligence Agency has done.
Because of the severity of the charges, the United States Senate should deliberate over these two candidates thoroughly before deciding whether or not to confirm them. This issue has my attention because there is a fair probability that the news item could affect me and it would affect the whole nation to a great magnitude.
The War in Iraq. We continue to get reports of the insurgency in Iraq and casualties to our troops. The war, now over two years old, is still a serious matter and worthy of our attention. This attention is evidenced by the continued media coverage and the protests against the war last month around the world.
The meaning of the war goes deeper. It is no longer about weapons of mass destruction or about Saddam Hussein. It is now about the future of the people of Iraq. We should care whether the people there can establish a democracy because democracies do not tend to go to war with one another and tend to respect the human rights of their people. We should also be skeptical of the Administration’s claims of progress in this regard because their intelligence has been inaccurate before.
Gas Prices. Though gas prices are high, they are not as high, if adjusted for inflation, as the gas prices under the Carter Administration in the late 1970s. The media have not done much in the way of reporting this fact. I found it on a blog, The Victoria Advocate.
The media should do less reporting on how much gas prices are and more upon the need to find alternatives to fossil fuels. There is only a limited amount of oil available on our planet and we need to find new energy sources not just to stop our dependency upon the Middle East but also to support our way of life in the United States. That is the real story here.
We would not be so fatigued by the issues if we knew what we were looking for. We should not trust everything we hear in the media. By focusing upon news items that affect us and have an impact upon our lives, we can avoid “issue fatigue.”