4 ms·

I'm not sure this is quite on the mark. What makes the Gaza conflict more prominent to the US than what's happening in Africa? To some extent the US was less in

I'm not sure this is quite on the mark. What makes the Gaza conflict more prominent to the US than what's happening in Africa? To some extent the US was less involved in Africa. Once it left the slave trade, its main involvement until the Cold War was with Liberia. But since the Cold War, the US has had varying levels of involvement in the continent. During the Cold War the US did some pretty nasty things in Angola. The US pledged aid to Ethiopia as a way to keep it from falling into the pocket of the Soviets. The US was involved with the South African government in both propping up apartheid during the Cold War and decades later trying to speed its dismantlement. I think it's just that the Middle East has more wealth than Africa and that regional powers like Qatar and Israel can afford to cover news in the area with more speed and fidelity, which means that outlets like Al Jazeera can provoke other news outlets to react with their own takes. Africa just doesn't have as much money and just can't afford to diplomatically exist on a larger scale the way the Middle East can. Though I think this article does raise a huge risk that China can swoop in and count Africa easily given how little awareness the average Western voter has of African politics.

aeturnum 3y ago
> What makes the Gaza conflict more prominent to the US than what's happening in Africa? Lots of things! Israel is generally the largest recipient of foreign aid[1]. This is partially, but not exclusively, because Israel is considered important to various domestic groups for reasons that are outside of normal policy concerns[2]. For lots of reasons Israel (and the groups it abuses) are an important domestic political issue. I don't think it follows regional wealth either. For instance - the Saudi involvement in the Yemeni civil war has been going on for a long time, is pretty objectionable, and is pretty hard to defend. Yet it's not covered very much because the fact of the Saudi-Yemeni conflict is awkward for the US. The US security apparatus thinks its important to be on good terms with Saudi Arabia for various reasons and so our information delivery apparatus warps the information it shows us to avoid making us think about it too much. Another way to think about it is that the news that is distributed most is at a local maxima of the intersection of "salience to US politics" and "capacity to make some money by sharing this news somehow." Gaza (and Israel) are, for various reasons, at the exact center of those two categories. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/05/14/half-of-evangelicals-support-israel-because-they-believe-it-is-important-for-fulfilling-end-times-prophecy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/05/14/h...
- Karrot_Kream 3y ago
  > Lots of things! Israel is generally the largest recipient of foreign aid[1]. This is partially, but not exclusively, because Israel is considered important to various domestic groups for reasons that are outside of normal policy concerns[2]. For lots of reasons Israel (and the groups it abuses) are an important domestic political issue. I didn't grow up in a particularly Jewish part of the US so I keep forgetting what a big deal Israel is to American Jews. You're right. There's lots of domestic groups in the US with ties to Israel and they're a huge political entity. I just didn't put two-and-two together. > For instance - the Saudi involvement in the Yemeni civil war has been going on for a long time, is pretty objectionable, and is pretty hard to defend. Yet it's not covered very much because the fact of the Saudi-Yemeni conflict is awkward for the US. The US security apparatus thinks its important to be on good terms with Saudi Arabia for various reasons and so our information delivery apparatus warps the information it shows us to avoid making us think about it too much. It is awkward, but the Khashoggi incident got plenty of airtime in the US despite it also being awkward for the US and despite the US only dealing with Turkey in terms of NATO. I'm still not convinced this is how the news apparatus works because I can think of many counterexamples like this. But I'm not going to deny that Israel is a huge issue in the US because of how deeply involved Israel is with American Jews.

aeturnum 3y ago

> What makes the Gaza conflict more prominent to the US than what's happening in Africa? Lots of things! Israel is generally the largest recipient of foreign aid[1]. This is partially, but not exclusively, because Israel is considered important to various domestic groups for reasons that are outside of normal policy concerns[2]. For lots of reasons Israel (and the groups it abuses) are an important domestic political issue. I don't think it follows regional wealth either. For instance - the Saudi involvement in the Yemeni civil war has been going on for a long time, is pretty objectionable, and is pretty hard to defend. Yet it's not covered very much because the fact of the Saudi-Yemeni conflict is awkward for the US. The US security apparatus thinks its important to be on good terms with Saudi Arabia for various reasons and so our information delivery apparatus warps the information it shows us to avoid making us think about it too much. Another way to think about it is that the news that is distributed most is at a local maxima of the intersection of "salience to US politics" and "capacity to make some money by sharing this news somehow." Gaza (and Israel) are, for various reasons, at the exact center of those two categories. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/05/14/half-of-evangelicals-support-israel-because-they-believe-it-is-important-for-fulfilling-end-times-prophecy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/05/14/h...

Karrot_Kream 3y ago
> Lots of things! Israel is generally the largest recipient of foreign aid[1]. This is partially, but not exclusively, because Israel is considered important to various domestic groups for reasons that are outside of normal policy concerns[2]. For lots of reasons Israel (and the groups it abuses) are an important domestic political issue. I didn't grow up in a particularly Jewish part of the US so I keep forgetting what a big deal Israel is to American Jews. You're right. There's lots of domestic groups in the US with ties to Israel and they're a huge political entity. I just didn't put two-and-two together. > For instance - the Saudi involvement in the Yemeni civil war has been going on for a long time, is pretty objectionable, and is pretty hard to defend. Yet it's not covered very much because the fact of the Saudi-Yemeni conflict is awkward for the US. The US security apparatus thinks its important to be on good terms with Saudi Arabia for various reasons and so our information delivery apparatus warps the information it shows us to avoid making us think about it too much. It is awkward, but the Khashoggi incident got plenty of airtime in the US despite it also being awkward for the US and despite the US only dealing with Turkey in terms of NATO. I'm still not convinced this is how the news apparatus works because I can think of many counterexamples like this. But I'm not going to deny that Israel is a huge issue in the US because of how deeply involved Israel is with American Jews.