by Sol Rayos

Created on: April 18, 2009

I've begun watching fringe news sources lately. The sort of news sources which cannot be considered mainstream because of the content which they carry. It's not because they are over-saturated with violence or sex. It's because they provide edgy reporting on issues considered too controversial to touch. I've seen specials on humanitarian crisis where viewers are placed face to face with the victims, specials on illicit drugs in foreign lands, domestic mismanagement and neglect, and a host of others, and it troubles me. Throughout these videos I am left frozen; not knowing what it is that troubles me most. In desperation I have awaited the silent moment when my concerns, frustrations, and emotions will crystallize to the point that I can make sense of what I have seen and how it has affected me. And this is why this is not mainstream news. Because life is hard enough already. Because news like this involves a confrontation which rattles your conscience. People aren't ready for it. But the harsh reality is that the people on the screen weren't ready for it either and their reality is a piece of our own whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Their lives have been flipped upside down and the least that we can do is look them in the eyes.

You might ask, "What is the agenda of this news outlet? What's their slant?"

My reply is, "Who cares?"

I can read between the lines. I know that their use of emotional pleas is somewhat unfair. I know that their reporters lack the professionalism of mainstream journalist. It's evident in their smug, sarcastic air as they throw difficult to deal with subjects in your face. Even more than standard news sources they revel in the discomfort which they might cause you because this is the truth that they've seen and you've ignored. This is life and your already petty issues are dwarfed by those of people in New Orleans who have been forgotten, by those in Latin America who have been oppressed and are far beyond rock bottom, by the Sudanese who have been slaughtered and those who remain and must make sense of it all, and by those who have been mislead or mislabeled as part of a farce which is put on by those who lack compassion for their fellow man.

It is a shame the way that we have allowed our fear to control us. The way we have allowed our apathy to harm others. This is what makes watching this sort of news painful. It's content is no more saturated with violence, sex, drugs, and despair than mainstream media. What makes it's message more poignant is the fact that it makes us take a hard look at ourselves. It makes us wonder how it is that we've been able to sit idle while this goes on in the world. What have we become? When did we become so calloused? And why has it taken us so long to realize this transformation we've undergone? From here the questioning only gets more difficult as we ask ourselves what we must do to change this? Where can we contribute? And is their any hope of correcting this vast oversight which we've become inextricably tangled in? The answers are out there and we can not continue to allow our apathy to prevent us from finding them. We can not allow our fear of inadequacy or failure stop us from trying. We must do something. We owe to those in need as much as we owe it to ourselves.

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