Which of the following to you hear most about:
1. The U.S. presidential election
2. The war in Iraq
3. The war in Afghanistan
4. Your local senate race
5. The genocide in Sudan
Probably not #5. In fact, you have to read pretty carefully to even get an idea that it's going on. Kristof from the NYT reports that about 100,000 people (men, women, children) have died. Look at a stadium full of people watching a football game and think about all of them, dead. And at most stadiums, that's only five figures, not six. You'd have to double some of the stadiums to get that number.
Frankly, I'm disgusted by the media. I'm not going to give another ounce of care about the presidential election--it's overshadowing--scratch that, it's drowning out other news that is affecting our world. It makes me disturbingly angry that there can't be some kind of balance during election season. I'm not saying the presidential election isn't important--I'm saying it isn't important enough to take the place of everything else that's happening in the world. And damn the politicians and the pundits and reporters for not recognizing the importance of that--they don't deserve our votes or our viewing and they surely don't deserve their salaries.
At the moment I'm not sure what I can do for Sudan--give money to the aid workers who try to make a difference is one way. Writing to my senator is another...but, hey, what if s/he doesn't get reelected? S/he's more focused on the damn campaign than anything I have to say. And that's not democracy--that's ludicrous.