Focus Change

The news media of the world are the ones who decide what the news of the day will be. It is interesting that the focus will change dramatically when dramatic conditions flare up to become today's news. Last few weeks it was Egypt, Libya and then the earthquake and tsunami in Japan filled the TV screens and  newspapers the day after. People can not get enough of the sensational.

The media make their money by advertising and big stories will sell papers and add people to their TV audience. Suddenly we will tend to forget Libya and the terrible struggle that is taking place there. The world stood by and watched the struggle for democracy being played out in front of our eyes on TV and all we saw and heard was rhetoric. For days and days people were being slaughtered. Much could have been done to help these people by the world community. Little was done.

Japan, overnight became the new story and we could not help but be moved by Mother Natures outburst. Immediate TV coverage showed the carnage and even though it was almost surreal we were glued to the screen and hung on every word as the worst and most dramatic scenes were repeated over and over again. The world raced to help. The USA , through the presidents office immediately re-configured the naval assets to get to Japan asap. This was a marvellous response.

Will the people of Libya and the surrounding area be put on the back burner? Absolutely. Will there be more death and destruction in that area than Japan. Probably not but there will be more needless death. What occurred in Japan was unavoidable but what is happening in Libya is clearly in mans hands.

I am not trying to make a judgment but it looks like money talks in a significant manner when decisions are made on a world scale. It looks a lot like Katrina all over again but Japan will be the winner in this case. When these natural disasters occur on a regular basis surely the U.N. should have a plan. The USA has FEMA and in most cases it works well. Most poor countries cannot feed and look after its citizens let alone have resources to cope with large natural disasters.

With Japan being one of the leaders in the world in planning for just such disasters, the magnitude of this one was just too huge. The great team of American relief workers and extraction forces were on their way within hours to help. I watched while the planes were loaded with 150 trained men, with their dogs up and ready to go. They took along heavy lifting equipment as well. I know every country will help and Canada has a marvellous record in this field as well and will be there asap.

This disaster will be news for a while like Haiti but unlike Haiti Japan has the resources to carry on after the world community leaves.Haiti is almost as bad off now as it was at the time of the disaster because it has no leadership and resources to carry on. How sad. Hegel believed in the dialectic whereby a set of circumstances cause  people to carry forward. There would then be a regrouping and another surge and so on as people improved their way of life. This cyclic growth cannot occur without leadership and resources.

The media could be a great force for good if they focused on needs rather than sensationalism.