The difference between mainstream American media outlets and mainstream International media outlets.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

One of the main differences I tend to see when reading American media outlets and International media outlets is in their opinions relevant to world affairs. American media outlets really reflect the biases of America, while International media outlets will give you another side. An example I will use is Fidel Castro.

Because of the mainstream American media outlets, growing up I saw Fidel Castro as this tyrant, literally. The American media made Castro out to be this ruthless dictator that took over Cuba, made every Cuban’s life a living hell, and then he tried to blow up the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Since Castro’s Cuban Revolution brought about communism, that fueled the press attacks against Castro, because communism was already considered a dirty word in the United States by 1959. The American media did its best to make Fidel Castro out as a malicious man, and it worked. Anything bad that they could print about Castro, whether fact or not, they printed. American media outlets never printed any of the good that Castro did, and believe me when I say that the good COMPLETELY outweighs the bad. The main reason that the American media was so bias against Castro is because Castro messed with America’s money. There were a lot of American businesses in Cuba that Castro kicked out or took over when he and his partners brought about the Cuban Revolution. I learned through looking at history that if you mess with an American’s money you got hell to pay; there will be gunplay (e.g., the bay of pigs).

It was through International media that I saw the true Castro, thank god. The international media showed the good side of Castro, and he really didn’t have a bad side. Before the Cuban Revolution Cuba was a corrupt place. Cuba was pretty much run by a corrupt government set up by the United States. The United States kept dictators in office that helped them to exploit Cuba for its own good. There was also widespread racism of the Afro-Cubans, and the only Cubans that were living the good life were the ones who worked for U.S. companies, or the ones who worked for the corrupt government. Everyone else pretty much got raped politically and economically. Castro saw what was happening to his country and he decided to change that. Since the early 1950s Castro had been organizing rebel forces to take over the government of Cuba, and in 1959 he succeeded. Castro threw out all the employees of the corrupt government, and took over all private businesses and made them public. The Cuban people who fled to Miami in the early 1960s were the employees of the corrupt government and American businesses. The American media interviewed these Cubans so they could tell of the “tyranny” of Castro. But of course these Cubans would be on the American media’s side, because these thousands of Cubans lost out during the revolution. The American media did not care to ask the millions of other Cubans who were living under oppression what they felt about the Revolution that just freed them from political and economic distress.

Contrary to popular belief (thanks to the American media), half of the people in Cuba do not want to “escape” from Cuba and head to Miami. Many people of Cuba support the revolution for the good it has done. Before the revolution Afro-Cubans were treated much like African-Americans pre-1960s. Now Afro-Cubans have political and economic equality. Communism has made everyone in Cuba equal, in which people were unequal before with Cuba’s system of capitalism. Thanks to Fidel Castro all Cubans have free health care, a chance to get a free education, and food and shelter all supplied by the state. For the people that left Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift and after, it was not explicitly because of Castro. Most of them just didn’t like the system of Communism. After the revolution there was a lot of work to be done to get the government running smoothly, and Castro went straight to work. Castro was not sitting up in some air-conditioned office smoking a Cuban cigar and having sex with his secretaries after he took over the government. He was out in the streets talking to the people about their needs and wants, figuring out ways that he can make Cuba better off. All the United States was doing was figuring out ways to kill Castro without leaving any evidence. Castro has always been about people fighting against their oppressors and making society better. What many people do not know is that Castro in 1975 sent Cuban soldiers over to Angola to fight to keep out apartheid South Africa and others from coming in and spreading its corrupt policies in this newly freed colony. Thanks to the efforts of Cuba, apartheid South Africa did not take control of Angola. Not only did Cuba provide soldiers, but they also provided construction workers to build schools, houses, bridges, and other buildings. Cuba brought in teachers and doctors to assist Angolans, a lot of it free services. Yes, Fidel is a true tyrant.

It is best for people to absorb both international and domestic media outlets because American media can be extremely bias and can give Americans a totally wrong perspective on an issue. I know they did it to me.