I apprecicated the comments of those who noted the incredible egocentric
myopia of commentaries around Sept 11.
Last spring I taught a capstone senior seminar to communication students.
Among other things, I assigned them to read the NY Times for 5 weeks and
the LA Times for 5 weeks and to sample at least one foreign newspaper
on the web and to watch BBC news once.
Almost none of these students, COMMUNICATION majors, read the newspaper. Very
few have seen a regular evening newcast, never mind BBC world news which in
the US context comes across as almost radical. My students could not, in
scaffolded discussion, with newspapers in front of them, link questions of
energy usage, gas milage caps, and the like to the prevelance of SUV's and
how any of this could have ANYTHING to do with US foreign policy in the
middle east and elsewhere.
People with that kind of education might believe that George Bush won the
most recent US elections by obtaining the most votes or that God is on their
side.
mike
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