Channtal Fleischfresser: Reading past page one: an international responsibility

The statistics are impressive.

Nine percent of Penn's student body is made up of students from abroad, placing us amongst the top 15 schools nationwide in terms of our international student body. Penn has more than 20 student groups and clubs designed to increase our international awareness and cultural perspective. We also have an extensive study abroad program, encouraging students to explore other cultures and languages and to study outside of Penn's campus. On average, about 500 students go abroad every year to more than 30 different countries.

The figures speak for themselves. Penn has taken numerous initiatives to promote a greater understanding of international cultures and affairs, on and off-campus. Why, then, do I find that there is so little initiative from students on campus to familiarize themselves with the goings-on of the outside world?

The bubble encircling the Penn campus is fairly self-containing. Most of the time we don't even need to leave campus. Why should it matter what's happening with the rest of the world? It doesn't concern me and there's nothing I can do about it. So why bother?

We all live in a country that has assumed the role of the "world's police". From Augusto Pinochet to Fidel Castro to the Taliban and, more recently, to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the U.S. has had its signature on innumerable matters worldwide for at least the last 100 years. Why, then, does its population remain so largely uninformed about international events?

Especially in this new age of globalization and communication, when world politics and economics are more important than ever, we as Penn students should consider it an obligation to remain informed about international affairs because, arguably, they have never been more important.

I can understand why some would be apathetic to civil unrest in East Timor; after all, it is a tiny island halfway across the world -- not particularly relevant to our everyday lives.

It seems bizarre to me, however, when my fellow students are more concerned with the sports page than, say, the war in Afghanistan, which should clearly be of some interest. Why this isolationism?

To a certain extent, the news networks must assume some responsibility. In a given half hour, CNN may feature the latest baseball news, the weather forecast, something about the Pope's visit to Canada and oh, yes, the "Global Minute", in which they mention that Salah Shehade, Hamas' military leader, had been killed by Israeli forces.

People must realize how volatile the current situation is in the Middle East and, by association, how much more delicate the American situation therefore becomes. As such, the assassination of a key figure in a major branch of the Palestinian military force seems more than a little disconcerting and therefore might warrant more note than 20 seconds on the "Global Minute."

Not many would argue that, in the United States, international news takes a backseat to domestic events. This in itself is not the issue; the problem occurs when people assume that The New York Times or CNN is the be-all end-all of news coverage and don't go beyond to find out what's happening elsewhere in the world. Most Penn students look only to The Daily Pennsylvanian for their daily quota of information.

As an international student myself, this lack of curiosity about the rest of the world strikes me as odd. In most other countries, international affairs occupy a far more prominent position than they do here. As the current leader in international politics, it seems paradoxical that the American government is clearly interventionist while the population en masse remains largely isolationist.

If the U.S. wants to maintain the position of "world police" and arbiter of international affairs, it cannot afford the luxury of being isolationist; nor can we as students. We are next in line to deal with the consequences of today's actions. Yet, our generation is curiously apathetic to matters outside our immediate concern.

We should be questioning the government's actions and policies, because its decisions can and probably will have profound repercussions on our lives. We should remain informed not as future senators or government representatives but as active citizens who represent the leading country in world politics.

In order for us as Penn students to become informed members of an international community, we must first take the initiative to learn about international affairs and live up to the responsibility with which we have been entrusted.

Channtal Fleischfresser is a junior History major from São Paulo, Brazil.

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