WordSisters

Category: American life

  • Information Blast Zone

    A group of creative writers gathered for our annual retreat this weekend. A few of us had been local government news reporters and all of us are voracious followers of news media. For a second year, we admitted to not watching much national coverage or reading news that could be interesting. We frequently skipped the big stories which seemed redundant yet not very thorough. Like almost two-thirds of Americans, we are all tired of news.

    News sometimes appeared to be repurposed to be featured many times. You might read it in an online tonight, see in in print the next day, see the same copy in a second online newspaper a day later then featured on an electric media show. How old is the information? How important? How close to the information’s original offering is the rejiggered version. Hard to know.

    The 2023 Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that Americans’ fatigue with news continues to climb. The Pew Research 2020 study reported that two-thirds of us feel that fatigue. Here’s Reuters current facts:

    • More than one in ten Americans report turning news off. 
    • 41% of women and 34% of men say that they sometimes, or often, avoid news. 
    • While the study is global, American specific data also show specific areas of fatigue including about one-third of participants staying away from news of the war in Ukraine, forty percent avoiding national politics and an equal percentage not watching coverage of social justice.

    There isn’t a lot of information offered about why the numbers are dropping except that news followers are staying within their chosen silos and going to news that is more comfort than challenging. If a viewer doesn’t like the Trump story, watch international news. If it is climate change coverage that is overwhelming, maybe the stock market is more interesting. And when all the breaking news color bands feel like a repeat of yesterday, maybe home remodeling shows or sports coverage or reality television provide a break. 

    Folks who study how Americans absorb news point to the 1980 CNN effect–broadcasting news twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week. If you hear a story once, you’re going to hear it possibly every hour, maybe half hour. The 2022 Berkley Economic Review called the CNN model a market failure intensifying conspicuous bias that results in inefficient coverage of other news. Policy makers and decision makers are impacted by the continuous messages.

    Jon Stewart’s observation may be the best. His opinion is that the 24/7 news cycle elevates the stakes of every moment putting the public in the “information blast zone.”  And there we get tired.

  • Basics of Love

    The basics of love can be as simple as the thrill of sparkling diamond fireworks appearing seconds after the burst of red and blue or hearing a particularly well-arranged version of a favorite song.

    The word may be more loosely than the emotions. We love a football team, a blue car, our neighbor’s tabby cat, the smooth sauce on a half rack of ribs. There are friends we love. Relatives we love. Family we love. The one most desire, a someone to love. 

    Loving is a gift of humanity as well as a trigger into dissatisfaction, loneliness, despair. Sometimes the search for a place where love can be shared is difficult and it isn’t always successful. It is helpful to identify that when it emanates from another human.

    “Hello in There,” a song by John Prine is the story of an older man who lives in a city with his wife. Their only son was killed in a war. Most days they sit around and watch the world. He encourages people to look at older folks passing by, remember how lonely they might be, and try saying hello. If possible, spread a thin little layer of love to someone in need, even an acknowledging smile to the person next in line. Maybe you prefer to think of that tiny effort as paying it forward. Doesn’t matter. May the love come back to you as well.

  • On the Day after International Women’s Day—Recent Immigrants’ Thoughts about Gender Inequality

    Yesterday, the adult immigrants I tutor were discussing an article about pay inequality and education disparities in some countries. The article stated, “In the US, women can expect to earn about 80% of their male counterparts’ salaries.” After a quick online search, I found the specifics in a Government Accountability Office report. In 2021, women working full-time had an estimated median pay that ranged from $0.69 to $0.85 for every dollar earned by men. The pay range depended on what sector women worked in.

    Other countries have different cultural dynamics and economic opportunities, so the students offered a variety of views. I silently noted the range of perspectives could also be found among people born in the U.S. Here’s a cross-section of what the students said:

    “In my home country, women get paid less than men, but I didn’t think that happened in the U.S. Are you sure?”

    “Men need to make more money since they’re supporting a family, and the women take care of the children and the house.”

    “School isn’t free in my home country. My parents had a big family and couldn’t pay school fees for all of them. So they paid for the boys’ schooling, since they’ll have to support a family.”

    “I know pay differences between men and women happened in the past. You’re telling me it’s still going on?”

    “In my culture, mothers and daughters are supposed to cook, clean, and take care of children. Fathers and sons don’t. They earn the money.”

    “My mother wasn’t educated because her family didn’t have the money. My grandfather thought she didn’t need an education since she’d marry and have a husband taking care of her. But my father became disabled, and it was hard for my mother to support eight kids.”

    “International Women’s Day? What—we only get one day?”