One criticism that many people lob against American media and American culture is that it is too self-obsessed. It is always looking inward, navel-gazing, and assuming that what goes on in the United States is the most important event in the world at the moment. In a certain but limited sense, this is true, because the United States is one of the most powerful country in the world, and its money goes everywhere and affects the economy of just about every nation. The United States’ military is in countless countries around the world, not just in where it maintains active wars like Afghanistan and Iraq. For example, the United States maintains more than 50,000 troops in Germany, as a leftover of a post World War II international deal that sought to prevent the country to re-militarize on its own.

But sometimes in its coverage of political events, the mainstream media in the United States fails to include an international perspective that more worldly Americans would like to see. On one hand, this makes sense: we are in the United States, so of course our news would reflect our perspective and our values, and emphasize how the country and its citizens are involved in and affected by a given event. But on the other hand, it is productive and respectful to give a platform for other voices, and only serves to enrich one’s perspective on world affairs and political questions in general. Read the rest of this entry »