Across the other side of the world in Syria, over 1,400 people allegedly died at the hands of their own government in an act of chemical warfare against innocent people. Along with the many lives lost in this civil war, the Bashar al Assad regime crossed a line in international standards.President Obama and Congress are now stuck with a difficult decision to make: whether the United States should sit back and do nothing, or defend Syria’s citizens and punish the Assad regime.
There are many pros and cons to either decision. Inaction could show that America does not care, and that the Syrian government need not receive consequences from their poor judgment. On the other hand, taking military action could create more issues and result in the loss of more innocent lives.
While all of the debating and brainstorming on this serious international issue is going on all over the world, here in the United States, the media’s main concern seems to be Miley Cyrus and her explicit performance at the MTV music video awards.
Certainly Cyrus put on quite a controversial show for all of America to watch. She has shown a drastic change from being the sweet girl on the show “Hannah Montana” to “twerking” on stage with a foam finger. Yes, she is not a little girl anymore and is growing up, but there is a difference between her performance, and acting like a young respectable lady. With such a young fan base, Cyrus surely had been previously respected as a role model for many girls all across the country. Her performance potentially sends a very negative message to all of these girls and could have a damaging influence to them.
However, despite Cyrus’ personal crisis and the possible effects, the worldwide Syrian catastrophe could quite possibly land the United States in the middle of another foreign civil war is far more worthy of the media attention instead heaped on Cyrus following the awards.
In short, the media needs to get their priorities in line and spend more time focusing their efforts on stories more prevalent to what is going on around the world. The media is capable of having a very powerful impact on all viewers or readers via the television and various social medias.
By focusing more on Cyrus, the media could potentially corrupt the priorities of the youth by subconsciously showing them to focus on, for this example, the life of a celebrity. While Cyrus did raise many eyebrows, and disappoint many fans, the current crisis in Syria and what might happen next may make some far-reaching changes, and more lives could potentially be lost. It is more important to be informed and educated on world news than to worry about an old Disney Channel star gone wild losing her mind. It is time the American public consider what they believe the media should pay more attention to and how those changes might be made in the future.
Alyssa Cappola is a third-year student majoring in marketing. She can be reached at AC756570@wcupa.edu.
Fri. Jun 9th, 2023
