People Are Dying In Yemen As The Mainstream Media Obsesses Over Trump’s Tweets And Roy Moore (Video)

Let me start off by saying I have no problem with the media.

I refer to it and quote it every day in these articles.

I respect our “fourth estate” as a formidable barrier between a free republic where dissent is integral to keeping bureaucracy in check, and the alternative, where we are reduced to sycophantic puppets of a paranoid state.

What I have a problem with a corporate media culture that cares more about the reality show soap opera aspects of politics to garner ratings over honest, often uncomfortable, hard-hitting journalism.

It’s what happens when we put entertainment over information.

Turn on any of the cable news channels–even the so-called “liberal” ones (CNNMSNBC, “anything other than Fox”). 

What are they covering?

Roy Moore? Sen. Al Franken? Trump’s tweets about how he would have left the UCLA basketball players arrested in China in jail because they didn’t show him enough love?

How much are they dedicating to the GOP House tax bill that cleared the first hurdle toward passage on Thursday?

How much are they focusing on special council Robert Mueller’s investigation over Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump campaign’s possible collusion?

How much are you hearing about climate change, net neutrality, the increase in hate crimes, gun violence statistics, voter suppression, the corporate assault on unions, legislation designed to criminalize peaceful protest?

This list goes on.

Did you know while we’re distracted with petty minutiae, the United States is ignoring its duty to prevent what is being labeled the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world” occurring as you read this?

Nearly 80 percent of Yemen‘s population is starving. Millions are on the edge of famine.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia initiated a near-total blockade on its borders with Yemen. This makes it virtually impossible to import food, water, and medical supplies.

According to the United Nations:

“[Supplies] are essential to staving off disease and starvation. Without them, untold thousands of innocent victims, among them many children, will die.” 

3.2 million people are at risk of starvation. 150,000 malnourished children could die within the next month.

Due to lack of medicine and clean water, the fastest spreading cholera epidemic ever recorded is imperiling nearly 900,000 people, according to U.N. figures.

Already the outbreak has killed more than 2,000 people.

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said on Wednesday:

“It will not be like the famine that we saw in South Sudan earlier in the year, where tens of thousands of people were affected. It will not be like the famine which cost 250,000 people their lives in Somalia in 2011. It will be the largest famine the world has seen for many decades, with millions of victims.”

Lowcock said not a single UN plane has been able to land, and believes no other humanitarian agency has been permitted access either.

The United Nations has organized three rounds of peace talks, none of which have been successful. Hostilities and civilian casualties have actually escalated.

And where is the “most powerful nation in the world,” the United States of America?

Shouldn’t President Donald Trump be on the phone with Saudi King Salman, or his son since Salman is reportedly stepping down next week?

Shouldn’t he be calling upon the international community to intervene upon Yemen’s behalf?

Instead of calling Sen. Al Franken “Frankenstien” (sic) on Twitter, perhaps he should step up to the challenge he “won.”

This is just one of the many reasons we are becoming the laughing stock of the world.

Image credit: Al Arabiya English

Ted Millar is writer and teacher. His work has been featured in myriad literary journals, including Better Than Starbucks, The Broke Bohemian, Straight Forward Poetry, Caesura, Circle Show, Cactus Heart, Third Wednesday, and The Voices Project. He is also a contributor to The Left Place blog on Substack, and Medium.