by F.M

Created on: June 03, 2009   Last Updated: June 06, 2009

Many die in Sub-Saharan Africa of malnutrition, diseases and illnesses. Countries in Asia and South America are not spared and the same can also be attributed to some parts of Eastern Europe. The plight of the poor in the global south (countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America) and in some parts of the global north (countries in Europe and North America with the exception of Mexico), are always publicized in sappy commercials asking, those with bigger wallets, to support a child with just one dollar a day. The plight of poverty stricken children is saddening, yes, but that doesn't make the news. Poverty does appear in national headlines in some particular instances.

Poverty makes the news when the issue is closer to home. The global north is more sympathetic to an issue when it's closer to home or at home. When poverty is closer to home, the issue seems real. We cannot distance ourselves from another's pain. It grabs the public's attention because it can severely impact adjacent poverty-free countries or regions. Americans are perpetually reminded of poverty-stricken Mexico. Gun control, illegal immigration and swine flu, tend to remind Americans that their borders aren't necessarily safe. The plights of several illegal immigrants make the American news because the issue is closer to home.

Poverty, not only makes the news when the crisis is closer to home, but when it occurs in unlikely areas. There are several poverty stricken areas in the United States. That never makes the news, but if places like Beverley Hills became a breeding ground for poverty, the very issue would make national headlines. Better yet, if the United Kingdom deteriorated to the social-economic conditions found in Malawi, the very issue would make the news. Nobody expects poverty to hit places that were once money-making machines, but everybody expects poverty in places where it perpetually resides. A better term for it all is sympathy fatigue. The public becomes tired of hearing the same stories about the same places that cannot restart their economic engine, cannot feed its starving population and cannot cure its population from fatal illnesses. However, the public is stunned when a prevalent economic machine crashes.

Poverty only makes the news when the poor rebel. Protests work, but it is efficient when manifestations become violent. To this day, the French will never forget the 2005 youth riots in the streets of Paris. Many first generations of poor French Africans and Arab youth,

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