Hundreds of news outlets have swarmed to this particular region of the world to film the plight crossing many nations. Sources reported Syrians who passed away on their plight, crowded Syrians chanting for access to Europe, along with a myriad of related stories, including comments from Germany's outspoken Angela Merkel or Hungarian authorities amongst a few.
There was this video that shows a Hungarian reporter tripping a Syrian man after he takes off running, making just as much news as the rest of reports. And rightfully so, read here about that gentleman's new job coaching soccer in Spain, thanks to the publicity. The reporter who tripped him claims to be a Hungarian supremacist, yet another European angered with oncoming migrants.
For those of us who kept up with the plight, we've each been able to create an opinion, thanks to our most trusted source of information. Whether it be BBC, or Late Night Shows, or mass media Twitter.
But do our sources reflect an honest comprehension of the series of events? News today has no time for extensive background stories. Understanding why millions are fleeing their homeland has little place in ticker feeds. Thanks to cognitive research, "chunking" lets us clump and organize information into neat and tidy tidbits for us to consume. Coupling small bit stories with images, or graphs, are techniques used by most sources to help us retain information in the long-run. So while stories are eventually engrained in our head, it's the tone of the journalism, the source that provides it, the details of the case, and the emotional and credible connection that determines our final opinion on a news story.
So let's break the mold. Understanding why refugees want anything but Syria is a rough example to a complicated problem. Not only is your current source forced to provide you with the local spin, the global impact, and the commercial structure, but they have little to no sources in Syria to yearn from.
But think about most the news you've heard on Syria in the last 6 months. It is normally an association between an outside country and Syria, like Russian airstrikes, or Turkish border skirmishes, something bigger in scope.
I've got slightly different news for you:
-Over the summer, a Syrian man returned home after being detained for 6 months by Syrian government officials. While in custody, he lost 45 pounds. He was severely malnourished when he returned. The man was detained, for "questioning on his involvement in forces against Assad."
-His son was detained last week for the same reason. He's 17.
-71 Syrians died in a truck in Austria in plight. 12 more drowned at sea on the way to Greece
Below is The Great Mosque of Aleppo, said to house the remains of John the Baptist's father.
This is what his grave looks like now.
Syria is in shambles to say the least. When I visited about 8 years ago, running water would cut off every few days, as part of a cycle for cities a certain ways out from the capital.
But the issue is no easy fix, and things are definitely complicated. Here, Syrian refugees tussle again and again with Hungarian police, exhausting efforts in Europe on a tolerance front. Immigration in Europe has always been a difficult concept, thanks to the likes of the Schengen Area and relatively open border control.
-Except here's the alternative, in neighboring Jordan.
-Yep, that's a soccer court. Looks like a desert music festival right? Except they plan on staying a bit longer.
-Syria has one of the longest histories of any country. It's ancenstry and lineage are ancient, with base in the three largest religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (in order of establishment).
-Syria is known for its beaches along the Mediterranean, famous traditional mercantile cities, important trade routes through East Asia and the Mediterranean, oil exports, and historic value.
-The question you see every day in the media, is what should we do about these refugees?
Author's Opinion-
I think it's time we read the news understanding the context. Millions of people did not show up at the doors of Hungary because it was rainy that day in Syria. These people had homes. Those homes no longer exist. Neighboring countries have exhausted resources, and the above camps are full, and bursting.
Food is short, your wardrobe is in your backpack, and you've got a lot of a time to kill. Your family cannot live in the streets, because the streets are lined with similar displaced families, with no horizon. To your East lays ISIS. The details of which are always evavise, but some things to be sure of is their funding, polticial activism, infrastructure in schools, roads, even entire cities under the Black Flag.
To the West is the Capital, run by a dictator who now controls the military and various regions, or strips of the country. Bashar Al-Assad continues his father's legacy before him. Between the two, it's been about 40 years in office.
People left their home to find better opportunity. I say understand the consequence of leaving, and accomodate appropriately, because the alternative is ignoring a humanitarian crises that will GLADLY be framed by the western world's biggest naysayers as another failure of the U.S and the likes.
Do you really want to begin the end to Middle-Eastern tensions? If not, that's fine. I get the domestic struggle.
If you do, then someone has to be the bigger person. And the tent-people might be reluctant. Just Sayin.
Call-to-Action:
Regardless from my own thoughts, I challenge readers to understand that news is made by the sources we choose. If you are not sure where a story originated, look deeper before constructing judgement. Follow the endless angles, then choose the ones you want to address. Consider the humanitarian need, the European struggle, and the logistical constraints in this case. Think hard, make a plan, make a contingency plan. Keep the news on tv in your living room, debate the issues with your roommates and teachers and family alike.
But constantly strive to learn more, because limiting yourself to what you already know guarantees that you'll become outdated before you blink an eye.
-Syria has one of the longest histories of any country. It's ancenstry and lineage are ancient, with base in the three largest religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (in order of establishment).
-Syria is known for its beaches along the Mediterranean, famous traditional mercantile cities, important trade routes through East Asia and the Mediterranean, oil exports, and historic value.
-The question you see every day in the media, is what should we do about these refugees?
Author's Opinion-
I think it's time we read the news understanding the context. Millions of people did not show up at the doors of Hungary because it was rainy that day in Syria. These people had homes. Those homes no longer exist. Neighboring countries have exhausted resources, and the above camps are full, and bursting.
Food is short, your wardrobe is in your backpack, and you've got a lot of a time to kill. Your family cannot live in the streets, because the streets are lined with similar displaced families, with no horizon. To your East lays ISIS. The details of which are always evavise, but some things to be sure of is their funding, polticial activism, infrastructure in schools, roads, even entire cities under the Black Flag.
To the West is the Capital, run by a dictator who now controls the military and various regions, or strips of the country. Bashar Al-Assad continues his father's legacy before him. Between the two, it's been about 40 years in office.
People left their home to find better opportunity. I say understand the consequence of leaving, and accomodate appropriately, because the alternative is ignoring a humanitarian crises that will GLADLY be framed by the western world's biggest naysayers as another failure of the U.S and the likes.
Do you really want to begin the end to Middle-Eastern tensions? If not, that's fine. I get the domestic struggle.
If you do, then someone has to be the bigger person. And the tent-people might be reluctant. Just Sayin.
Call-to-Action:
Regardless from my own thoughts, I challenge readers to understand that news is made by the sources we choose. If you are not sure where a story originated, look deeper before constructing judgement. Follow the endless angles, then choose the ones you want to address. Consider the humanitarian need, the European struggle, and the logistical constraints in this case. Think hard, make a plan, make a contingency plan. Keep the news on tv in your living room, debate the issues with your roommates and teachers and family alike.
But constantly strive to learn more, because limiting yourself to what you already know guarantees that you'll become outdated before you blink an eye.
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