Cannot understand Why!

The Year is slowly drawing to a close and there are still many things and happenings which puzzle me in the US. Becoming Americanized is a slow process especially to appreciate what piques media interest and what is fair and good game in their eyes.

Let us take some of the latest headliners; Tiger Woods. For crying out loud, give him a break! He was involved in something private in his house, dashes out in what seems like a tearing fury, cannot control his car and manages to knock out a fire-hydrant at the whopping speed of 30mph! You all know the rest. Now is it not time to give it a rest? Let him be. He did nothing criminal, so the police say, so it is up to him to settle whatever dust he raised at his home and it is certainly not our business.

Amanda Knox alias Foxy Knoxy. This American girl has been found guilty of murder along with a boyfriend of hers. The trial happened in Perugia, Italy, after a long preparation for the formal indictment. She is an American citizen found guilty of killing her British room-mate. But the media are not happy. This "poor" US girl has been wrongly accused. the trial was a joke. The Italian judicial system is nowhere as competent and fair as the American one! Give me a break! Italy has had a fully functioning judicial system long before America was discovered, by an Italian! Not only, there is a fully functioning US Embassy in Rome, which is not that far away from Perugia and I am sure there was at least one competent member from the Consular staff which was following the case. Not only, there is no death penalty in Italy, so she could consider herself lucky since that is what she might have got if she were found guilty in the US! But the media will not let up! With all the troubles we have here, political, social, economic, military, you name it we have it, does the media have to keep trying to find fault with what other Countries are doing and questioning their methods? This happens repeatedly and I am sorry to say not only by the sensational press but even by moderate news outlets who pride themselves of presenting the news as fair and unbiased.

These are two recent cases, but I have noticed that scorn is also reserved for things French, Spanish and of course Italian. Europe is constantly referred to as being socialist in spite of the fact that there are several conservative governments at the moment. Very rarely is something nice said about the European states. With the ongoing debate about public health, the bashing has also included Canada in the list. Has no one ever heard of the saying, "Comparisons are odious"? It is one thing to compare systems so as to get the best for oneself. It is another to always run down others because OURS is so good. If it is so good how come we have all the problems we have today?

In the spirit of Christmas, can we not spare some magnanimity towards the "unfortunate" countries from where most of our forefathers came and from whom we adopted all that is good in this Country?