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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Dec-06
Forgotten news stories of 2006

Web Log - December, 2006

Forgotten news stories of 2006

Some important stories have been ignored.

Top news interest stories of 2006 <font size=-2>(Source: Pew Research)</font>

Top news interest stories of 2006 (Source: Pew Research)

A recent report by Pew Research lists the most popular (most closely followed) news stories of 2006, and follows up by listing stories that were ignored. We found the list of ignored stories much more interesting.

The most popular stories were as you'd expect: Stories about Iraq, gas prices, midterm elections. Even some international stories made the list -- British officials stopping a terrorist plot to blow up planes flying to the U.S., Iran's and North Korea's nuclear programs, and the Lebanon war between Israel and Hizbollah.

Here are some of the stories that the Pew reports lists as "The Dogs that Didn't Bark" in 2006:

An Unread Report. For months, Democrats and Republicans alike were hoping that Jim Baker's Iraq Study Group (ISG) report would provide a solution to the Iraq problem, but Pew found that only half of Americans even paid any attention when the report finally came out. Since the report's publication, plans appear to be coalescing for a "troop surge" into Iraq, and everyone is waiting for President Bush's announcement in January.

Immigration Indifference. Pew found that attitudes towards immigration peaked in May, around the time of the mass Latino demonstrations, protesting the immigration bill, and there's been little interest since then.
This is going to change. Most Americans are completely oblivious to the turmoil that continues to grip Mexico. In most of Latin America, the fault line is between generally poor indigenous ("AmerIndian") people and generally better off European descendants. In Mexico, the new president Felipe Calderón represents the descendants of the Spanish and French invaders, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the would-be Pancho Villa of the new century, representing the Mayans in the south and Aztecs and Commancheros in the north. In addition, there are large out-of-control drug cartels operating out of Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana.
This turmoil is spilling over into the U.S., and from the point of view of Generational Dynamics, immigration is almost always a major political issue in countries in "generational crisis" eras. This is certainly true today in almost every country in Europe, for example. Expect to see immigration become a more important issue next year.

No Terrorism Panic. Pew found that Americans are very complacent about possible future terrorist attacks, even in the face of terrorism and terrorist plots in other countries.
This is not surprising. Americans were similarly unconcerned when the British were fighting Hitler in WW II, thinking that America's physical isolation, surrounded by two major oceans, guaranteed that they would be safe. The Pearl Harbor attack destroyed that view.
From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Americans today are anxious and worried, but seemingly unconcerned about terrorism. A major new terrorist attack on American soil will turn the anxiety to panic, quite possibly leading to war very quickly.

Death in Darfur. Despite huge publicity by rock stars, the U.N., and humanitarian groups of atrocities and genocide in the civil war in Darfur, only 13% of Americans have followed the news on the subject, in each of the last three years.

Other issues: Gay Marriage, Abramoff scandal, fall of gas prices, and Katie Couric as CBS News anchor were also all yawners for Americans.

Finally, here are two major issues that are more important than any of the above issues, but aren't mentioned in the Pew Report:

Palestine's descent into chaos. Americans paid attention to the Lebanon war between Israelis and Hizbollah, but are oblivious as to what else is happening in the Mideast. The Palestinians are unable to form a viable government, and a civil war is a real possibility. Furthermore, with Iran supplying funding, training and weapons, the Palestinians are planning war with Israel.
Americans are fairly oblivious to this threat, and have become even more so since this past summer's Lebanon war, since they automatically assume that a war in the Israel/Palestinian region would not affect America much, an assumption that's unlikely to remain true.

China's massive militarization. In 2006, China continued its massive development of sophisticated weapons systems, including amphibious vehicles for the capture of Taiwan and submarine-based nuclear weapons for direct war with America. Americans are totally oblivious to this threat.

For the last week, the story that's gotten wall to wall coverage on all the news networks is about rape allegations against members of a college lacrosse team. It reminds me of the summer of 2001, when the major news story was about the affair between California congressman Gary Condit and Washington DC intern Chandra Levy, after the latter disappeared. The Condit story filled some 90% of the news for months, until 9:50 am, September 11, 2001. (27-Dec-06) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Dec-06 Forgotten news stories of 2006

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Dec-06
Forgotten news stories of 2006