# It is official - the rest of the world does not exist **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 20, 2001, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523 "2001-06-20T21:10:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/1 "2001-06-20T21:10:06Z")
I picked up _Newsweek_ today. I don’t know why I keep buying it and/or _Time_, but I still succumb on occasion. Well, I started to read it, got through most of it, when I noticed something missing. To double-check, I went back to the Table of Contents. Yep, I was right: **There was no international section**. Not a single story about any event in the outside world. Two full pages dedicated to bull riding, 3/4 of a page on the “scandal” of Starbuck’s coffee prices rising while coffee bean prices are falling, 2 full pages dedicated to a photo of champagne being poured on Shaq, but nothing about Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Latin America, etc. Ya know, I gotta apologize for my thread last week about European attitudes towards America. When one of the two major U.S. “news” magazines feels it can ignore 95% of the world and its readers won’t get upset, maybe y’all are right, we are cretins. Sua ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/2 "2001-06-20T21:25:29Z")
Know what pisses me off most about Newsweek? They’re always doing these _huge_ spreads about the next big product the corporate America is shoving down our throats–the PS2, _Pearl Harbor_ (mostly about the movie, not the historical event), or some other dumb thing. These features always gushingly positive. That’s not journalism. It’s advertising. ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/3 "2001-06-20T21:26:30Z")
I don’t know about you, but on my map of “the world” the U.S. is shown in clear relief and surrounded by an ocean. Other vague land masses are depicted, with the designation “Here be dragons.” Some are colored red to indicate “commies.” There are “keep out” signs posted along all the borders. Isn’t that all we need to know? [sub]Sua, put down that fetid rag and get thee to [http://www.economist.com](http://www.economist.com). If you want I can call you and read some passages from The Fighting Never Stopped if it will make you feel better.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/4 "2001-06-20T21:34:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by magdalene \* > [sub]Sua, put down that fetid rag and get thee to [http://www.economist.com](http://www.economist.com). If you want I can call you and read some passages from The Fighting Never Stopped if it will make you feel better.[/sub] 1. My problem is that I pick up the Economist on Friday and I’m done it by Sunday. I need something to tide me over, and I’m weak. Weak, I tell you!! 2. Will you read it in your sexy voice? Sua ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/5 "2001-06-20T21:36:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > They’re always doing these _huge_ spreads about the next big product the corporate **America** is shoving down our throats– **the PS2** , _Pearl Harbor_ (mostly about the movie, not the historical event), or some other dumb thing. Hmm, what’s wrong with the bolded parts of that quote? 🙂 Besides, Newsweek rocks, despite the occasional corporate product handjobs. Way better than Time or US News & World Report. I look forwards to getting my copy out of the mailbox when I get home tonight. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/6 "2001-06-20T21:45:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by minty green \* > Besides, Newsweek rocks, despite the occasional corporate product handjobs. Way better than Time or US News & World Report. And I’ve always thought that cowshit was much more pleasant than horseshit. Funny story- about ten years ago, I was at a party in D.C. I got introduced to someone who worked for _U.S. News_, who asked me what I thought of that rag. I thought I was being diplomatic - I said I thought the news reporting was good, but the “News you can Use” fluff section had to go. Of course, that’s the section she edited. Surprisingly, I didn’t have sex with her. > [@](#): > > I look forwards to getting my copy out of the mailbox when I get home tonight. \*\* And to think I respected you, **minty**. Sua ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/7 "2001-06-20T21:59:55Z")
:eek: Shocking, \*\* Shocking\*\* I say. They didn’t mention [British children laugh at Bush’s lack of geographical knowledge](http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/reuters20010620_248.html) or [French farmer ransacks McDonalds, arrested in West Bank](http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20010620_1489.html) or [American woman on trial in Peru](http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20010620_1201.html) or [Philippine Army suspects US hostage is dead](http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20010618_29.html) ??? 😃 _originally posted by ever so suave Sua_ > [@](#): > > I said I thought the news reporting was good, but the “News you can Use” fluff section had to go. Of course, that’s the section she edited. Surprisingly, I didn’t have sex with her. ??? Some women have no taste. Um, er, in men. yea, that’s what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/8 "2001-06-21T00:02:02Z")
Hey **Sua**? Right there on page 28 is a story entitled “Dropping the Bomb,” a three-page story about the prospects of U.S.-Russian nuclear disarmament. Now that ain’t a _lot_ of international news, but it’s a freakin’ “Special Report” issue. Not that I’m likely to give a rodent’s patootie about any of the “medical breakthroughs” that take up almost half the issue, but it looks to me like they just bumped the boring international stuff to make more room for the sake of selling more issues to aging baby boomers. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/9 "2001-06-21T00:17:58Z")
For the benefit of anyone from outside the United States that might be reading this, here is how a typical Texas local newscast might begin: “Several Texans are missing and feared dead tonight after a 50-megaton thermonuclear warhead vaporizes the capital of England.” This will be followed by a live remote from a trailer park where a reporter is asking an old lady how it feels knowing that her son has apparently been vaporized. Then will come the Lotto numbers. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/10 "2001-06-21T08:46:16Z")
_matt remembers once again why he loves the dear old CBC_ ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/11 "2001-06-21T08:50:07Z")
Eh, TV news is the same the world over. Typical ITN bulletin: opposition leader accuses PM of something, Geoffrey Archer in court again for something or other, massive earthquake in Latin America (but not many Britons killed, whew) and an amusing tail-end story about a panda that can’t get it up. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/12 "2001-06-21T09:56:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob Scene \* > \*\*For the benefit of anyone from outside the United States that might be reading this, here is how a typical Texas local newscast might begin: > > “Several Texans are missing and feared dead tonight after a 50-megaton thermonuclear warhead vaporizes the capital of England.” > > This will be followed by a live remote from a trailer park where a reporter is asking an old lady how it feels knowing that her son has apparently been vaporized. > > Then will come the Lotto numbers. > \*\* Can be as bad here in Australia: Saw a comedy take on this theme a few years ago. In a spoof of tabloid style TV newscasts, the “deathometer” was introduced slightly to the right of the newsreader’s head. “Three people were killed today when their car…” _KER-CHING!_ goes the deathometer, and shows a big 3. “A house fire in Melbourne last night has claimed two lives…” _KER-CHING!_ 5 “And in Bangladesh, an earthquake has killed fifteen thousand people…” \*KER-CHING!\*14 (points to deathometer)“Of course, those are the _racially adjusted_ figures.” ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/13 "2001-06-21T13:01:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mattk \* > Eh, TV news is the same the world over. Typical ITN bulletin: opposition leader accuses PM of something, Geoffrey Archer in court again for something or other, massive earthquake in Latin America (but not many Britons killed, whew) and an amusing tail-end story about a panda that can’t get it up. I have to disagree. We get a huge amount of overseas news in the UK, and coverage of events in the USA is out of all proportion to their importance to the average British citizen and voter. The top story on the BBC News website at the moment, for example, is the military coup in Pakistan. But recently we have had detailed coverage, in all media, of: The Texan woman who drowned her children in the bath (relevance to ave. Briton: 0) Timothy McVeigh (0) US death penalty in general (0) The other guy they just executed (0) The American who’s just been sentenced for terrorism in Peru (0) Texas floods (0, unless it’s God punishing Bush over Kyoto) The bichon frise that was killed in a road rage incident (0) Bush, Bush, bloody George Bush, again and again and again (relevance 0, but Schadenfreude high; he’ll be taking over from the impotent pandas as the funny story at the end soon). The balance of power in the Senate (0) Hanging chads, dimpled chads, etc _ad nauseam_ (0) You would be extremely hard-pressed to see a single news bulletin which didn’t contain a major story about the USA or the EU. An equivalent of the situation described in the OP would be if one of our major news magazines – the New Statesman, for example, the Economist or the Spectator managed to produce an issue with no foreign news at all. That is pretty much inconceivable. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/14 "2001-06-21T13:05:27Z")
I know, I know, I was trying to make **Sua** feel better. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/15 "2001-06-21T13:22:22Z")
Yeah, I agree with Tom. My impression is that media reporting here is quite well balanced between National and International news. So anyways…you guys in the US didn’t read the survey last week that suggests that people in the US work 400 hours a year more than their German counterparts (yip, 10 whole weeks). Can’t find it online but here’s the numbers: Germany: 1,556 hours UK: 1,720 hours US: 1,976 hours What about informed debate and comparing international employment rights, unemployment rights, ‘capitalist’ health care and tying that to employment, is Kyoto still “dead” according to the US media…Weird shit. Almost makes you think…nah, couldn’t be ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/16 "2001-06-21T13:43:11Z")
**George Bush and the Impotent Pandas** If that doesn’t sell records, nothing will. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/17 "2001-06-21T14:44:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by minty green \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > > They’re always doing these _huge_ spreads about the next big product the corporate **America** is shoving down our throats– **the PS2** , _Pearl Harbor_ (mostly about the movie, not the historical event), or some other dumb thing. > > Hmm, what’s wrong with the bolded parts of that quote? 🙂 Heh! Right you are. Change “corporate America” to “the multinational corporations that really run the world.” I stand by my point, though. Infotainment pisses me off. ---
**Author:** ![Jester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jester/32/8223_2.png) [@Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jester)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/18 "2001-06-21T14:59:27Z")
[Kent Brockman] Tonight in the news, an extremely popular soft drink has been found to be lethal. We’ll tell you which one, after sports and the weather. [/Kent Brockman] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Protesilaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/19 "2001-06-21T15:42:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheLoadedDog \* > \*\*Saw a comedy take on this theme a few years ago. In a spoof of tabloid style TV newscasts, the “deathometer” was introduced slightly to the right of the newsreader’s head. > \*\* A few years ago (1995?), the Fox5 news had the yearly New York Gun Death Tally, and they’d bring it up every day with something like, “And now it’s time for the Gun Death Count. Today’s shooting of two people in a Queens parking lot and the accidental shooting in Staten Island bring the count to 327 gun deaths this year.” ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523/20 "2001-06-21T18:24:48Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by TomH \* > [BThe top story on the BBC News website at the moment, for example, is the military coup in Pakistan._\* I just looked at [cnn.com](http://cnn.com) and there’s no mention on there of a military coup in Pakistan. I wish they would cover it, though, so I could find out if any Texans got hurt. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-official-the-rest-of-the-world-does-not-exist/69523.md?page=2)