Recently, news radio and news stations and newspapers have been rather silent on the cases of the Jena 6. And they have been silent on what is happening in Burma. And they have been silent on what has happened in Sumatra. And they have been silent on many other things. Even though horrific injustices are occurring in the midst of our very own "democratic free land", despite the fact that there are 6.1 billion people in this world living their daily lives, I have only heard of these news broadcasts twice on the radio and read about them once on the online news bulletins for the masses.
Is it possible that we have been silenced by our horror, disgust and anger at such atrocious, gross civil rights violations and social injustices that have been committed in Jena? Or have we been simply ignoring the situation -- turning a blind eye to what is happening because we have no immediate stake in the outcome. Is it possible we are appalled by the U.S.'s weak response in aid to the earthquake disaster in Sumatra? Or do we think it is so far away that it does not affect us? Have we been shocked into non-speech by the situation in Burma? How is it possible that US News is so quiet. It gives new meaning to the phrase All Quiet on the Western Front. A friend recently wrote about the silence of VN news in regards to Burma. We are hearing silence everywhere. And it is deafening.
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