Friday, January 28, 2011

Emotive, Shallow and Forgotten

A while back, the media was full of concerns of farmers committing suicide - possibly because of using BT cotton. Over 17000 farmers killed themselves in 2009 though the figure emphasized often is 200,000 since 1997. The coverage of the suicides was extensive and emotive. Quite possibly, the victims' families even received help. But what about the families of the others who did not opt out?

Micro-finance wasn't working either - again reported widely because of farmers suicides

Hence, I was struck by this news of suicides by American soldiers being greater than their deaths in combat. I am pretty sure that the number of farmers in India is far more than 36 times the number of American soldiers; so what does it mean for the analysis of suicides by farmers?

Sadly, with all the reporting and 24x7 channels, I do not feel any more knowledgeable only emotionally exploited.

It disturbs me that in-spite of so much content, shows like Bill Moyers Journal which were not shallow or superficial are missing (or extremely hard to find in spite of google and all the social media).




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