On Monday, February 8, I attended Current Event Night hosted by Samantha Z., and I realized how unbelievably behind I am in world events. Almost every major event Sam discussed, I hadn’t heard anything about. This meeting really got me thinking about what the media has been focusing on lately, and why. Being in a global pandemic, it is obviously very important to report on updates about the disease and the vaccine, but when every news station and every app solely reports on COVID, it get’s old, and is also a constant reminder of all of those who have lost their lives to the disease. Because of this, I have been avoiding the news all together recently, but I now realize that my knowledge of world events has dramatically decreased. So, this meeting was refreshing, and I feel much more caught up.
One of the events I found most interesting was the Perth bushfires. I remember the devastating wildfires that ripped through Australia last year, but little did I know they are still battling fires there. Samantha also brought up the Myanmar coup in Southeast Asia, which was an event I had actually heard something about previous to this meeting. Reading about the protesters using the three-finger Hunger Games salute sent chills up my spine.
I feel like I am in the same boat as many US citizens when I say that I did not know of a majority of the events discussed at the current event night. It is a shame how much I don’t know about other parts of the world. I could be looking in the wrong places, but I do not see much media coverage on anything happening outside the United States. Like I mentioned, it is usually primarily COVID related news. Looks like I need to broaden my news sources, and start doing more research of my own.