An American Journalist

This was by far the most interesting story I read in the past weeks. It was about how hard it is to report a story on something and not make it in their nations viewpoint. This also raises another question: Should people be reporting the news from the views of the country or how it actually is? This question isn't as easy as it sounds. It is better for most journalists to work in the view of their country because they are the people they are writing for.

As the article says, when they asked nine arab countries for a survey if they thought the people who executed 9/11 were middle-eastern and most said no. This is most likely because it is not easy to blame yourself for doing anything really. Let alone your country, which makes up a lot of someone. It is the same reason you never go up to a person who you know is from that country and tell them what they are doing wrong.

It is the same with America. It is a delicate balance between how things are happening and how it looks from our view. However, this is very important and it is something that we need so I do not object. It is just important to know what is going on not only on one side, but both.

King Still King?

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential people of the 20th century. He was a major leader in black rights and was one of the big reasons that they have been as widely accepted today. He is a man who  was known for many great deeds. It has been a number of decades since he was shot and he will always be remembered, but it is important. Is he still a king now?

Well, I believe he is. He affected many people during his time and still affects people today. The fact that we have a black president now is even more amazing. From his time to now we have grown very fast. Faster then most people thought we would.

Most people from his generation never even thought they would be a live for a black president and now we have one that one his presidential election very easily. To appreciate King's legacy we have a national holiday for him. A time for people to remember what he has done for black people around our nation. To say that we do not still appreciate him wouldn't make sense. Many of the things in our lives everyday were changed because of him. He did not only change America for one group, he changed it for everyone.

This Sacred Soil-Seattle

This is one of the best Native American point-of-view I have read. The man in question, Seattle, is very logical and simplistic with his observations. He has accepted his fate, which so many people find so hard to do. He felt connected to the land, while we were inhabitants. His whole life was about this land and his people. A deep connection that no "foreigner" could replicate. The Europeans could never understand, not anymore.

However, this wasn't their fault. They had started to own land hundreds of years before. Land became a product to them. It was no longer something that held sentimental value, but something to be gained. Hence the reasons people started exploring out of Europe. (Well they wanted to find India, but I guess that's indirectly getting new land.) To the men asking the Native Americans to move to a reservation, it probably seemed like they were doing them a favor. That this was probably the best outcome, but losing that land was losing everything. There was nothing they could do to make up for it except leave them alone.

Seattle knew, however, that these men were not going to leave. The best option for them was the reservation. The saddest part of the story was that he had lost hope. In his faith and his people. He felt that his "god" so to speak was deserting him and only helping the other side. His ultimate point, which I have never heard, was that it was going to come back against the white man. That it would not always be good for them either and that it would all fall apart. While this isn't a necessarily positive way to look at things, it has to be true. Nothing is forever. Just existence.

"There is no death, only a change of worlds."