In last week’s blog list of New Year’s Travel Resolutions, I pledged that I would “refuse to let small-minded victims of 24/7 news shrink my worldview.” A few days later, at a New Year’s Eve party, I finally found a way to enjoy Fox News.
The TV was running without the volume, and we were listening to early-1960s girl groups like the Shirelles and the Supremes. Watching the Fox talking heads–popping up in various boxes, hands busy helping make their points, the visuals were amazingly in sync with the playful party-and-heartache lyrics of the songs. It was an absolute delight. (If you make a Supremes channel with your Pandora app, then listen to it while watching Fox News on mute, you’ll be there.) I guess it was particularly enjoyable because, even without hearing a word they were mouthing, I knew the “newscasters” were sowing fear while the audio track was celebrating life.
Older people seem most vulnerable to the 24/7 news fear-mongering. A week ago, a loved one called me up. He was almost breathless, saying that 283 Americans were nearly blown up by a terrorist. I pointed out that, while the thwarted attack could have been tragic, on that same day, 20,000 children around the world actually died because of bad water and no immunizations.
With the failed attempt to blow up a plane last week, blankets on laps and trips to the toilet are now suspect on flights. Egged on by our hysterical media, we’re fixated on a risk we can never completely rid ourselves of. But that’s not news: The Department of Homeland Security has kept our airports at code orange (“high risk”) for the last three years straight.
The irony is that those most obsessed with the risk of terrorism are the ones empowering the terrorists…whose purpose, after all, is to frighten us. The people who need to travel the most are the ones whose worldview is shaped not by actually going places, but by 24/7 news coverage. And those news stations are peddling fear for profit. If it bleeds, it leads…and a thwarted terrorist attack at Christmas, if properly stoked and prodded, can turn into several days of huge ratings.
Last night, I enjoyed dinner with a 20-year-old who recently spent an exciting week in Cuba. He was filled with stories…and wisdom. Now he’s planning to learn Arabic in Syria. The University of Damascus offers Arabic courses to English-speakers for free. The US Department of State warns that Syria is unsafe for travel, and our media is shouting about how dangerous our skies have become. But, inspired to learn a new language, experience a foreign culture, and meet the Syrian people, my young friend is ignoring all of those risks. He’s way too young to be listening to the Shirelles. Why is he not afraid?
Here’s to less fear in 2010.