PERCEPTION: Americans pay more attention to the Simpsons than to the United States’ political affairs.
by Amy Wang, Opinions Editor
What did you do today? You woke up at an inhumane hour (at least, that’s what your six-in-the-morning brain thinks), skimmed through a closet full of clothes to pick up today’s outfit, stumbled over to the bathroom to wash up and then dragged yourself downstairs to eat breakfast before meeting your doom, also known as school. Then you spent seven hours watching the clock and passively listening to your teachers as you secretly eavesdropped on your friends’ gossip. When you got home, you ate, finished homework and hopped onto your laptop to spend the rest of the day doing what you like best: nothing. That day turns into a week, and that week into a year. This is no longer routine to you—this is your life, your world.
But there’s a world outside of the monotonous one full of first-world comforts we all know and have come to take advantage of. There’s a world within the borders of our country that we don’t even acknowledge. There are different worlds in every country that we barely blink an eye at.
The problem is not that these worlds are outside of our access. With technology like the Internet and mediums such as the press easily available at our fingertips, there is no excuse for us to not at least peek into the many worlds Earth offers.
The problem is that we don’t care.
Or, at least, we don’t think we do. It’s easy to not care about things we simply do not understand. After all, would you rather watch zombies being torn apart on The Walking Dead or the news report about the U.S. and its allies reaching a nuclear deal with Iran? We gladly place fictional events packed full of action and gore in front of important foreign affairs that affect the entire economy of several countries as well as the lives of millions of people.
And why do we do it? Because it’s easy. It’s so much easier to watch mind-numbing television shows that let us forget about the problems of reality than it is to actually think and even attempt to comprehend the technicalities associated with foreign affairs. It’s easier to flip the channel when news stations report protesters in Ukraine fighting for their country’s future—a future that was shot down by the country’s own president—because who cares about that stuff, right? Obviously not Americans. It’s not our problem, right?
It’s not even as if we focus completely on our own country’s problems rather than international affairs; statistics show that we don’t even know what’s going on in our own backyard. The average person can’t distinguish the difference between Obamacare and The Affordable Care Act. In a 2006 Washington Post poll, 30 percent of Americans couldn’t recall what year 9/11 took place—just five years prior. A study by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum revealed that while .001 percent of people surveyed could name the first Five Amendments, 22 percent could name all five Simpson family members. In 2011, a Marist poll reported that “[a]bout one in four Americans doesn’t know from which country the United States declared its independence. While 76 percent correctly cite Great Britain, 19 percent are unsure, and 5 percent mention another country.” Additionally, younger people were less likely to answer correctly (which is ridiculous—as if not knowing our country’s bare foundations is not enough—because the younger you are, the more you should remember from your high school U.S. history class). The statistics are disgustingly endless, a glaring indicator that we just don’t care.
But saying we’re simply apathetic is oversimplifying the matter. Part of us cares—the part of us that is affected, that is. Once politics step into our comfort zone, it’s war time. It’s not enough to just care about the world we live in, because we aren’t the only ones on this planet. Through sharing our planet, we inadvertently share our problems as well, whether we want to or not.
There are easy ways to learn more about the planet we live on that only take five minutes out of our day. Even skimming news headlines on your phone when you’re bored in class is a quick way to get caught up on today’s news. If you have a couple of extra minutes, watch videos about the news. TED Talk videos, featuring specialized speakers who range from shocking to emotional to humorous, are an excellent way to open up your
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mind in an entertaining and informative manner. Perhaps you’ll even find an interest in something you never even knew existed.
We don’t need to become specialists in international relations or every political move in the United States; we just need to care that there is a world outsize of our comfort zone. We need to be aware of events in the world around us in order to actively participate in them. Don’t let your life pass you by as you sit at home moping about how you’re “totally bored” as you munch down chips and watch television. Don’t complain about the government doing nothing to help the country when you’re doing nothing to help yourself. Don’t let the comforts of home lock yourself in. There’s a world beyond our own, but it’s up to you to open the door and step outside to see it.