I have a surprise. I’m not talking about Trump’s taxes. The story that has dominated the news cycle and I’m not going to talk about it. I’m not going to talk about the VP debate either. Or the second debate between Trump and Clinton.
A couple reasons for that. First off, I’m tired of talking about Trump and Clinton. I’m pretty sure people are tired of hearing about them too.
Second, is it really any big surprise that Trump lost a lot of money, found a bunch of loopholes to make the debt go away, avoided paying income tax, probably did so legally and then says he can fix the loopholes he went through as president? No, it’s not. This is business and that’s how businessmen operate, not just Trump.
Third, there are so many other things that have went through the news recently.
Columbia, a war torn country that has been working towards a peace deal among the government and the Marxist rebels has been rejected. Both sides have said that they will not go back to fighting. However, no one knows what will happen next. It is more than likely that someone will pick up weapon and they fighting will begin again.
According to the New York Times, about 220,000 people died in that war and six million were displaced. There is also an untold number of women who were raped and children who were forced into battle. Although opponents of the agreement said it was too lenient on the rebels, there is no good idea of what to do next.
A Dutch photojournalist was killed in Libya by ISIS snipers. At least 11 other journalists have been killed since the Libyan crisis began in 2011. The journalist, Jeroen Oerlemans, was converting a government offensive against ISIS when he was killed.
There is a pattern for journalists who go into the Middle East. Those who bring stories and photos of what the frontlines look at, often lose their life in the process. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there has been 93 journalists killed in Syria since 2012.
In Ethiopia, 52 people were killed in a stampede, which started after police fired tear gas and warning shots into the crowd. Oppositions are saying that the stampede started because of the police. Reportedly, sections of the crowd began to shout anti-government slogans and started to make anti-government gestures.
There is a lot more to this world than just Trump or Clinton. It’s good to be involved, it’s good to go out and vote and it’s good to care about issues that affect our country. It’s also okay if you feel frustrated with this election.
However, most of the time, what dominates our news cycle and Twitter accounts is politics. There is so much more that is happening in our world that is actually tragic and heartbreaking. People have their lives in danger maybe because they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or maybe they have risked their lives to give the general public photos and stories about what happens in war torn places. Some people were just born into it. There isn’t much they can do to escape it except leave their home when they are older.
The world is bigger than just Trump and Clinton. One of them will be our president and whether you like it or not, the show must go on and life will continue.
I think we need to look beyond the front page and dig deeper into other things that have gone on around the world. The media has become so obsessed with this election, that other parts of the news often seem neglected and yet they are just as, if not more so, important.
Laina Yost
Managing Editor