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This is News?
Posted
4-25-2000
The issue of Elian Gonzalez wouldn't normally fit under the auspices of a
campaign issue, but I'm certain that the reason it received so much
publicity was purely political. I am saddened that the media falls into the
same trap time and again and feeds people's desire for publicity (Elian's
Cuban-American family and supporters) and allows both major political
parties to grandstand over what should never have been a news story.
If Elian was a Mexican,
Haitian, or any other illegal immigrant trying to enter the United States,
he would have been sent back immediately and we would have never heard of
him. Because the United Sates has engaged in this useless political battle
with Cuba for 40 years, we treat this case differently. People escaping
Mexico are escaping economic oppression comparable or worse than Cuba. They
are also existing in a less than democratic political environment in Mexico
where one party has ruled for many years. Why a different standard for
Cubans?
The standard can't be
different only because of Cuba's communist rule. We bend over backwards to
accommodate China, the largest communist country in the world. Yet we remain
hostile to tiny Cuba. Our hostility can't be toward Castro's dictatorship,
because we accommodate dictators regularly as part of our foreign policy.
So why the uproar over a
6-year-old boy who by every reasonable standard should be with his only
living parent? The battle over the political capital from Cuban-Americans
votes in South Florida is the reason everyone scurries to give this issue a
life. Whether it is Republicans still wrapping themselves in anti-Communist
rhetoric or Al Gore trying to grab support in a critical electoral state,
the pandering is overwhelming.
Clearly the child belongs
with his father, forget the politics. What is sad is that a 6-year-old boy
becomes a political pawn in a battle among people who could really care less
about his well being. I also think it is shameless that Elian's American
relatives have just endlessly dragged this affair out so they can stay in
front of the television cameras.
It disappoints me that we
continue to focus on non-issues that stir emotional responses, yet have
little relevance in our lives. The media feeds us because we suck it up. It
requires little thought and the consequences don't change our lives. I wish
Americans would spend as much time, and show as much interest in real
foreign policy issues as in this issue that should never have made the news. |
