Natasha Wasinki
Posted: 2/7/07
So my first response to reading staff columnist Pat Leahy's piece last
week was, "Ugh. Another weekly update on the conservative-liberal
brouhaha. How innovative." My second response? How lucky he - and we -
are to read and write about such subjects.
I spent the last four months globetrotting during a study abroad program
in Switzerland, which put me in contact with all sorts of people,
cultures and politics. Nine countries and a quickly diminishing bank
account later, my last trip took me to Cuba (Note: We went on a
humanitarian aid Visa, which is perfectly legal. No need to call the
Feds on me).
I'll admit that I was scared going in. What if Castro dies, my friends
probed. A: We had a plan of action and people to contact. What if you
get thrown in prison for talking politics, my parents asked. (We aren't
coming to get you, they added.) A: I'm going to keep my mouth shut; I
don't even speak Spanish.
But after making it safely through security, my fears were relieved and
my curiosity piqued. Since I have a interest in politics, the whole
"visiting the Commies, oooh!" aspect of the trip was to be interesting.
As an aspiring journalist, I was really looking forward to checking out
the media.
I mean "medium." And my first encounter had been with the national
newspaper that was placed neatly in the seat in front of us on our
airplane from Nassau to Havana.
Not surprisingly, Venezuela's president and Castro graced the front page
with the headline, "Dramatic rescue of Chavez." Below the subheading
said to go to page 7 for "the conspiracy of the domestic oligarchy
encouraged by Washington led to the seizure of the
constitutionally-elected president of Venezuela ..."
Hmm, interesting. Inside an article reported how Oliver Stone received a
fine for filming in Cuba ("for violating what is euphemistically
referred to as an embargo, actually nothing more than a barbaric,
brutal, systematic blockade, universally recognized and condemned by an
overwhelming majority in the UN," in case you didn't know) and about the
then-just-released Baker-Hamilton Report (and that Bush saw how the
report "corroborates - according to him - his slanted and erroneous
approach to a war that - whether he likes it or not - is lost").
And that is just the general news! The editorials are a hoot; I like the
line in particular that knocks how the "new world" is "graced by a
president who secretly 'talks' to the Almighty. Does he do so by cell
phone? If God is not careful, he might be modernized, too."
Political beliefs aside, there is no doubt this writing is a
journalistic disaster. Actually it barely merits the title of
journalism, with its politically-charged use of language and limited
variety of news. Objective and balanced? No way. And we thought FOX News
was bad.
I should have expected this in a state-run newspaper. But after just
five days of seeing giant billboards everywhere denouncing Bush and
hailing Fidel and "La Revolucion!" I felt a little jaded. And upset.
Anything about Castro or the system couldn't be discussed above a
whisper with our Cuban friends. In fact, we foreigners weren't even
supposed to mingle with the locals. Information and technology are
basically barred from the citizens (security confiscated our DVD player
at airport customs).
And how do the people feel, you wonder? That would require a separate
letter to the editor. My point is that the freedoms we have as Americans
in this country are so great and need not be taken for granted. Sure, we
have our own problems now with diminishing civil liberties and a
shrinking of news agencies. Our system, our state, is by no means
perfect. But, if anything, we should all at least exercise our very real
right to speak out and change what we think is wrong. It's a privilege,
and if there is anything I've learned since being outside the U.S., it's
how lucky I am to be an American and to have those rights.
A parting piece of advice to Leahy: When contemplating what to write
about, it would be more enriching for you, and us as your readers, to
share the experiences you are having abroad. We can easily turn to
American media for American events. (And FYI to readers: update on the
battle between political ideologies in the U.S. is a simple 'same old,
same old.')
Natasha Wasinski, senior,
journalism, international studies
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