You are sitting at home and you flip on the nightly news. Another story about a celebrity mishap covers the screen. It’s not until five minutes later that they go to a segment on the soldiers in Afghanistan, and that story only get’s 10 seconds coverage. Doesn't this seem wrong to you? Today, we spend more time focused on celebrities than soldiers, and we need to change that.
I haven’t always felt this way. I was one of those teenagers reading all the magazines, looking for the newest information about my idol. I watched Entertainment Tonight like it was my religion. I was part of the fuss. But since I started to pay more attention to politics and the war, I’ve noticed how little coverage soldiers get on the news.
As of May 24, 2010 94,000 US soldiers have been sent out to fight in the Afghanistan war, and 4,400 of those brave men and women won’t return. How many times did we see reports on these defenders? Not enough if you ask me.
How would you feel if it were you son or daughter out there? Your best friend, neighbor, or anyone you knew? Would you want to hear more about the soldiers? It shouldn’t take the knowledge that someone you know is out there. You should simply know someone is risking their lives to keep you alive and safe.
According to Shannon O’Conner, an eighth grade student at Laredo Middle School, there is “no point in letting them go out to risk themselves” if the people and government don’t “find it important enough to report what happens to our loved ones”. Celebrities are given millions more attention than soldiers. Just watch the news tonight and see how many times a celebrity comes up compared to soldiers.
If the American citizens don’t care for our soldiers well being anymore, then there is a serious problem. In World War Two, all you’d ever here about were the soldiers. American soldiers this, American soldiers that, America is doing well on both the Pacific and European fronts. On June 6th, 1944 there was no news on anything besides our well earned victory. In Vietnam, the statistics weren’t always good, but people still heard more about soldiers than anything else. And now, it’s like the people don’t care about our defenders.
Our soldiers depend on us to relay information back home. They defend us even if we don’t want the war to continue. They do all they can to make sure we can go to sleep knowing we are safe. And what do celebrities do? Darian Orwig, another eighth grade student at Laredo, states that “They give kids the wrong idea of what is right and what is wrong…And they dress inappropriately so then the kids dress like that, too”.
We need to stop the celebrity fuss, we need to turn off Hollywood stars, we need to shut down the entertainment addiction, we need to put the spotlight on the rightful people, we need to pay attention to the heroes; our soldiers. We need to stop the endless stories on Lindsay Lohan and her kind, because their DUI’s and court appearances aren’t news, and focus more energy on reporting the brave acts of our men and women in the military.