I'M AS SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK

This is a letter that I just emailed to the Editor of The Chronicle, a very hip Austin newspaper. I've never sent a letter to the editor before but, damnit, I really felt the need to get this message across.

Dear Editor,

I am an American who has recently moved to Austin from London, England where I lived and worked for sixteen years. The universal question I am asked outside the US is, Why is there so little news in the US about the rest of the world? Therein, I believe, lies the reason the current administration has been able to perpetrate the politics of nightmares. Americans have always been insular and after September 11th seemed to turn even more inwards, if possible. Most young people ouside the US apply for and use their passports as soon as they are eligible, about 17 years old. They travel, they work, they experience other cultures and other cuisines. Yes, its true that many British people still believe that the sun never sets on the British Empire, but they absolutely know what is going on in other countries and continents. Although Blair was able to commit British troups to Iraq, the British public at large has and remains vociferously against this war, even after the recent bombings in London.

The Chronicle is an excellent paper. I would like to challenge you to bring more international news to your readership and encourage them to explore the world in which they live. Do the people in this country really want to be personally ridiculed and reviled by the rest of the world, truth is they pretty much are, or will they make the effort to assimilate with worldwide indigenous populations proving that the government may be an ass but the people are genuine and intelligent?

The Chronicle has an opportunity to dispel the enduring American media message, There's no place like home. Help your readers awake from the nightmares instilled by Washington. The reality is, no place is perfectly safe yet no place is entirely dangerous either.

Bette O'Callaghan