During high school, my usual routine consisted of the alarm going off, me resisting leaving my warm bed and me eventually dragging myself out of it in time to get dressed and catch the morning news. I grew up very accustomed to reading or watching the news to stay informed in some way. This reinforced, in my mind, the importance of the news and why it’s beneficial to know what’s happening around the world daily.
Now being at college, it’s difficult to fit reading or watching the news into a schedule where I can barely fit in sleeping, exercising, and doing work. I’m fortunate enough to be taking a class where knowing current events is apart of our daily discussions. But not everyone seems to be this lucky. I’ve found myself at different occasions this school year explaining not only current events, but why they’re significant and how it is going to effect some political decisions and spark debates on social media.
For example, when the accidents at University of Missouri and Yale University were only being followed by social media and had not grabbed the attention of the nation, many confused about what the protests were about, assumed it was just another racist slap in the face to black students by their peers. And while this was true, it was much deeper than that. Because it’s not just black students. It’s students of color, female students, LGBTQ students, and many others. These groups face many prejudice and are tired of having the administration belittle and excuse the actions of the ignorant, uneducated and sometimes the malicious. The courage of these students who protested inspired those here at Dickinson to act and create dialogue for the administration to hear after shushing and dismissing us for some time. After the "Blackout" demonstration on campus, I was approached by some asking what were they upset about. Why during Dickinson’s infamous “Cafsgiving” dinner? Does this kind of stuff really happen on campus? My answer being, yes, of course it does. It happens on every college campus.
Another example is, of course, the tragedy in not only Paris, but around the world. Bad news and the death toll exponentially grew from the earthquakes in Mexico and Japan to the suicide bombings in Beirut. The media gravitated to Paris because it is a peaceful city free of violence, except earlier this year when the Charlie Hebdo headquarters was attacked by extremists. As Syrian refugees pour into Europe daily so does the concern from Europeans that the refugees pose a threat to their homeland. The Paris attacks fueled this assumption changing many Europeans countries’ policies on refugees and how many are allowed to enter, which shifted the United State’s perspective. Especially as we enter the 2016 election year.
With all that being said, the world is changing drastically every day. And although something across the world doesn’t seem close, it might have an effect on you that you would have never seen coming. Before cell phones and technology, you had to purchase a newspaper or watch TV. Today, in addition to that, you have the ability to know what’s around the world at your finger tips. It’s incredible the power and knowledge that’s accessible on one small device. I hope this is enough of a reason to encourage you to read/watch/or even talk about the news daily.
