We should focus on the USA instead of Haiti
We should focus on the problems in the USA instead of Haiti. This is no slight against Haiti. It’s just that the USA has some serious issues right now. And it always seems like Americans want to help everybody except themselves. Our education system needs help. Has anybody else noticed that everyone is trying to become a lawyer or a cop? What is that? We need people who know how to do stuff. Like scientists or basket weavers or something. Check out this Wikipedia link to find out more! You see, the media is a way of either focusing or defocusing the American human attention. People watch TV and they think things. Those things could be to get a snack, or to mute the commercials, or to change the channel, or to text someone…But what can happen during those telethons like the ones you see on TV, is that people get focused on a single idea. That idea in this case, may be to help Haiti. So when many people watch this telethon they are focused on the idea of helping Haiti. But normally there aren’t that many shows or commercials that focus on one thing. The focus of Americans are usually scattered on many different shows and TV programming. So people in regards to Haiti are drawn in by TV programming and the news to care about Haiti. This in itself is a good thing. People should help Haiti, that’s great. My problem is that the USA has tons of problems that warrant the attention and focus of American dollars and TV viewership. We should use the media to solve problems at home instead of focus on external “charities” in order to make ourselves feel better.
In reality. Americans would be much better equipped to help other countries if we focused more on ourselves. Our major problem today is that we are still in the infant stages of shifting from a product import/export economy to an information import/export and product import economy. The transition is very hard. We have enough other countries in the world equipped to handle most of our consumer needs. That means we don’t really need to provide the necessities for ourselves anymore. The problem is that the Average citizen is having trouble paying for what they want because our dollar isn’t what it used to be and because we don’t export enough stuff that other countries want. So what can Americans do to help the problem? We need to focus on making the transition from a product economy to an information economy swifter. We need to get good at using computers FAST, imean FAST! That means education needs to be re-formatted to have kids learn how to use computers on a massive scale. There is no real turning back. We need to be able to read, write, listen to music, do math, think critically – all that stuff, and we need to know how to use computers better than any other country so that the USA will stand on top of the information economy import/export business. Then and only then, will Americans be able to buy the homes they want and give their children hope for a better future. By doing this, we will be able to have the money in order to fix real problems. These problems include, building roads, balancing our budget, cleaning our environment, providing safe cities and tons of other things.
So in conclusion, we need to focus on helping Americans -especially young Americans- get good at using computers and how to do advanced tasks on them. We must do this instead of helping other countries in their problems. It’s not just a misappropriation of our resources, but by focusing on Hati, we are neglecting serious issues that plague us. It’s really not anyone’s fault. The American public is generally a kind and generous people, it’s just that we rally towards causes that don’t necessarily benefit critical areas of our country. Think about it, jobs are dropping like flies. You probably know someone who has either lost their job recently or can’t find one. The system itself is changing. If the TV media isn’t going to focus on what the core issues are in the USA then it is up to us as individuals to find out what we need to do to create prosperity. The internet is a good place to start, but there is a great deal of misinformation on the internet. Elderly people can get scammed into doing things, and I can’t tell you how many people pollute Facebook posts with inane games about farming corn and beans. We need to coordinate. It’s pretty clear that our government is not going to spearhead the transition to an information based import/export economy. So who needs ‘em! Let’s do it ourselves. Schools are funded by state and local governments anyway. We should prioritize the training of skills into our young citizens like how to use: Adobe Photoshop, how to make a blog, how to make a website, HTML programming, Python Programming, C++ Programning, Computer Repair, Computer Sales, how to use video editing software and equipment…Avid, Final Cut Pro, Video Cameras. Those things are just a start.
-Tyler
