Most of the information we get about the world revolves around the news. Be it CNN, the BBC, the Guardian - the news is our main source of information regarding what goes on. Honestly, I rarely watch the news, which makes my knowledge about the world and its political and societal affairs fairly limited.
But recently, especially in light of the American presidential elections coming up, I realised how western dominated the news is. While there is definitely talk about global affairs rather than just the US and the West (for example, the August explosion in Lebanon that devastated so many lives), most political discussions and social affairs seem to concern that of the United States. Over the past year, the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism by the US Justice System brought a huge response globally. It is great to see attention being brought to the discrimination present in the US, and it’s interesting how what goes on in the US spreads so quickly around the world.
What stuck out to me the most, however, was the vast political knowledge our very own UWCSEA students have of the US, but how limited our understanding of Singaporean politics is. Of course, given that the news revolves mostly around Western countries, it makes sense that our student body would take great interest in it. However I also realized that while we are very much aware of the American political scene, after asking many of my friends, it seems like we know barely anything about that of Singapore.
Of course, I am also guilty of this, and unfortunately know very little about the political affairs of Singapore. When I began to question why that might be, I realized that when I do watch the news, it revolves around American politics. And this is because of the global influence and power the United States have.
Particularly after studying the Cold War in my History class, I realized that this idea was probable. Even during that time in History, the US was a prominent power in the world and thus, their conflict with the USSR (now known as Russia, and also a huge superpower) became quite a global conflict, roping in many countries. This was simply because of how large and developed the nations were in terms of nuclear power and strength.
In the modern day as well, with the threats of nuclear power existing, there are certain nations that have a huge influence on the world, with the US being one of the most powerful. Due to Singapore being such a tiny nation, even though we live in the country, given that the news is a major source of information, it is unlikely that we will come across Singaporean politics in mainstream media.
The implications of this means that a huge amount of pressure is being put on the American presidential elections. The election of Joe Biden or Donald Trump could mean a huge shift in the global dynamic and could end previous conflicts and start new ones, that would come to affect all countries simply due to the power countries like the US possess. It could mean a variety of different things for marginalized groups on a global scale too. For those reasons, the presidential race continues to keep everyone on their toes, and causes increased tensions and uncertainty for the future around the world.
Comments