America's Attention Bias on Disaster
At this moment in time, and indeed in history, the world that we all live in is a dangerous, chaotic place in so many ways. However, many Americans have their attention fixed on some tragedies as opposed to others. Stories of the Russian invasion into Ukraine, such as the siege and destruction of the city of Mariupol, have gripped the minds and hearts of many in the U.S. However, within this ocean of empathy for Ukraine, many Americans lose awareness of the multitude of disasters and loss of life occurring in other parts of the world at worst, and they devote less attention to them at best.
One prominent form of America’s selective attention to disasters taking place is the severe decline in attention to instances of civil unrest outside of the Western world. To give just one example, many news outlets across the West have drastically reduced the level of coverage to the chaos caused by the coup d’état by the military in Myanmar (known as Burma from 1948 until 1989). In January of 2022, although the media did not place the situation in Myanmar at the top of their coverage list, it was still relatively discussed. When the military first launched its coup d’état (BBC, 2021) against Myanmar in 2021, against the incumbent head of state, Aung San Suu Kyi, it featured relatively prominently. However, in February of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Understandably, the news of this event became a highly important topic of discussion. Indeed, this conflict has wide implications for the wider world, due in large part to the massive scale of the nuclear weapons arsenals of the United States and Russia. However, this trend continued for the next three months. Soon, people’s attention was fixated on these conflicts, especially when it was reported that the city of Mariupol was destroyed (Hindustan Times, 2022), and so mainstream media organizations, especially cable news companies such as CNN and MSNBC, devoted much of its coverage to this one conflict. Their reporting gave its viewers the illusion that no other conflict matters, and so Americans not very familiar with other conflicts lost track of their courses of events.
Ordinary Americans also struggle to pay attention to civil wars outside of the West, such as Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia, and others. For example, the Ethiopian Civil War, which began on November 3, 2020, has taken the lives of thousands of people in Ethiopia, and displaced more than two million people, especially in the Tigray region (Dahir and Walsh, 2022). This region makes up a large part of the country’s northern border with Eritrea, it being the object of conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the main rebel faction, and the federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, whose government considers the TPLF as a terrorist group (Tadesse, 2022). Since the war began, humanitarian crises, most notably food shortages (Dahir and Walsh, 2022), occurred more and more frequently as a result of the instability created by combat. In 2022 alone, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2022) currently estimates that 454,000 children are malnourished in the Tigray region (Cluster Status- Nutrition). In addition, the UNOCHA (2022) reports that “more than 9 million people need food assistance in northern Ethiopia and food assistance will be required throughout 2022 across northern Ethiopia” (Cluster Status- Food). The violence present in the Tigray region has made it difficult for humanitarian workers to deliver food and other necessities to malnourished and starving people. In March 2022, the Ethiopian government declared a cease-fire, and both sides have agreed to abide by it. At this time, humanitarian aid is making its way into Tigray, but fighting has resumed, and as before, both sides accuse the other of atrocities (The Guardian, 2022).
The reasons behind America’s seeming lack of engagement with international affairs are hard to determine precisely. Of course, simplifying the cause to an American lack of will is inadequate to explain the problem. International events usually do not impact Americans’ lives directly or immediately, and to conduct research on such topics, an American would have to divert attention away from those that concern him or her immediately. For example, topics such as gun violence, abortion rights, and racial tension at the national level, as well as funding for education at the state level, affect Americans’ lives more personally and directly, and so play a role in discouraging Americans from observing international events. In short, while genuine lack of interest plays a role in creating America’s low engagement with global events, so do factors that not all Americans have substantial control over.
In a world where many different types of tragedies are occurring, even in the United States, it would seem surprising as to why Americans (and indeed people from other Western countries) do not always pay attention to what happens outside of their borders. However, it is no surprise when one considers the vast diversity of the American people’s circumstances. Not all have time to educate themselves to the fullest extent about many conflicts at a time, due to long hours at work, the process of moving to a new location, and many other factors. Therefore, one important way that American society must change is the reduction of its fondness for working long hours. Although the poorest in America must do so to meet expenses like food, water, and housing, it must be noted that working long hours is praised in American society. A person’s length of time spent at work can be used as a tool to gain social status in large gatherings of people, especially colleagues or friends. Those who work the longest hours are seen as idols, while those who do not are either overlooked, deemed to be lazy, or unwilling to work. By allowing it to be acceptable for workers to record fewer hours, they would gain the flexibility to work less (by becoming more willing to tell peers their situation), which allows time to learn about disasters occurring throughout the world. This and other steps are important, even if Americans cannot single-handedly solve conflicts between and within nations. Without an engaged American public, they will not be able to make adequate contributions to the solutions of major problems, which will affect their lives, in one way or another.
Works Cited
Dahir, A.L. and Walsh, D. (2022, March 16). Why is Ethiopia at war with itself? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/ethiopia-tigray-conflict-explained.html
(no author). (2022, May 6). Mariupol ‘destroyed completely’, says Zelensky. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/mariupol-destroyed-completely-says-zelensky-101651855634952.html
(no author). (2022, May 30). More than 4,000 arrested in Amhara as Ethiopia cracks down on militia. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/30/more-than-4000-arrested-in-amhara-as-ethiopia-cracks-down-on-militia
(no author). (2021, February 1). Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military seizes control. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55882489
(no author). (2022, May 27). Northern Ethiopia – humanitarian update. United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia
Tadesse, H. (2022, May 27). UN says Ethiopia’s humanitarian truce accelerating the flow of assistance. Walta Info. https://waltainfo.com/un-says-ethiopias-humanitarian-truce-accelerating-flow-of-assistance/
