Let me start this piece off with
a bit of a complaint. As news consumers,
Americans have such a short attention span that major, long-trending stories
can gain no traction. I am appalled that
a few short weeks after the fires in Baltimore were extinguished, there is
hardly a word spoken about the riots, or Freddie Grey. It would be easy to say that CNN and related
news outlets will report on an endless string of stories where a photo opportunity
occurs behind the reporter, and that reporting stops when the viewer gets
bored. I am more concerned that these
24-hour news feeds make editorial decisions based on viewers’ appetites; as
such, the news is not content-driven, but market-driven. News has been reduced to a segment of the
entertainment machine, and predictably content,
depth, and a willingness to report on second-tier stories have suffered.
Given that criticism, I find
myself thinking about addressing matters of peace that seem urgent. In fact, many of the issues that come out of
the news of the day are urgent. I would
like to do a deep dive into Syria, Iraq and ISIS. The proposed Iran nuclear deal is incredibly
important. Events in Yemen, Burundi and
Burma vie for my attention as well.
Nonetheless, I am not writing these pieces to keep up with the day’s
news, and so I will only refer to these issues tangentially, so that I can
follow some long term trends, and keep a longer conversation moving along. I apologize if you think that I should devote
more of my time to Middle Eastern issues, or the Guantanamo Bay prison, or the
Ukraine. They are all worthy of our
attention. Instead, I will keep a
discussion (a dialogue would be OK ;-) ) going about a finite number of themes
that will allow us all to become better educated, and to become better
peacemakers. To that end, for the
remainder of 2015, I plan on limiting my posts the following:
·
Justice for the American underclass. My recent post titled ‘Baltimore and Beyond’
can be seen as a launch of this thread,
·
The South Sudan Civil War, to the end of
educating my followers and exploring how conflicts rise and continue, and how
peace might develop,
·
The worldwide migration of vulnerable people,
·
A retrospective of the destruction of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki 70 years later, which will include current non-proliferation
challenges, and an introduction to the pacifism of Thomas Merton,
·
The connection between peace and art, to break
from the politics and brighten this space a bit. This is a new idea that I’m looking forward
to, and
·
A calendar of peace events in Greater Boston, or
perhaps throughout New England, which was always a goal of this blog.
I hope that keeping to these
issues will bring my writing into better focus, and allow for better reading
for you. As the 1500th
pageview will most likely happen over the next few weeks, I’ll want to write
more regularly, and build my readership.
Thanks. Look forward to a
follow-up on Baltimore in the next few days, and a cycle through of each of the
items I’ve promised.
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