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Similar to last week's blog I was inspired again by my American Studies class' discussion. Shocker, I know, seeing as this blog is for my American Studies class. In class we were analysing a chapter from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden". In this chapter he claims that "all news, as it is called, is gossip" (Thoreau, 69). So this week I decided to evaluate what Americans consider "news-worthy" and why we consider these things "news-worthy". I began to answer my questions by exploring the New York Times current, international news page. I saw things like Protest of Thousands in Cairo Turns Violent, Russia Identifies Defect in Rocket That Crashed, and Nigeria: 9 Killed in Attack on Village in Plateau State. All of these things would be considered "news-worthy" to Americans but why do we consider these things "news-worthy"? Why do we need to know about protests in Cairo turn violent, or what Russia identified in a crashed rocket, or even the details on deaths in Nigeria? At first I wanted to defend the position of the need for news because I am addicted to news and knowing things. But after much mental wresting I came to the realization that, people really do not need to know all these things. People don't even need to know some of the things on theNew York Times' national news page such as, Texas: Progress Made Against Wildfire. After thinking about the benefits of knowing these things I came to the conclusion that there really aren't benefits to knowing that nine people were killed in a village attack in Nigeria or that progress has been made on a wildfire in Texas. People don't really need to know any of these things and it just distracts them from their own lives. We consider things "news-worthy" when they can quench our curiosity, if they're interesting enough or bizarre enough. Anything out of the ordinary has the potential to be news or it could also be considered gossip. Why we consider these things "news-worthy" is probably because of our need to always know, to always be informed, to always be in the loop. Spontaneity is not the norm in our culture, our culture is riddled with scheduals, routines, plans, and maps. Everthing is planned out so that we can always predict and be informed. That is why we value gossip and news so much, because it keeps us informed it keeps us mentally prepared for everything. That distraction hinders our personal developments and growth as people. Since we as Americans value news for informing us about everything else we fail to improve our own faults and lives because we are so busy worrying about everything else.
I'm sorry Jasmine, but I'd have to disagree. We believe things are "news-worthy" as you say it, because many things affect us. Someone in New York could have a relative or close friend in Texas and would relieved to know that they have begun to stop the wildfire. Or perhaps its a environmentalist looking for a new place to help the environment. He just found a place where he can rebuild the environment that was burned in the wildfire. We read news because it helps us go on with our lives and plan our next move.
ReplyDeleteI totally see where you are coming from but if we were truly involved or actaully needed to be involved then wouldnt we be informed via more personal means of communication. If someone did have close family in Texas and would want to know if the wildfire affected them news wouldnt help them but a phone call or something more personal would. News is broadcasting things that we dont really need to know because if we did need to know certain stories we wouldnt hear about it form the news but from phonecalls or letters or other means of communication instead.
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