An MSNBC article paints a rather flattering portrait of those who are making due in Cuba with ingenuity and determination to deal with the bad economic situation. Instead of showing that the ingenuity is an essential necessity of survival under Fidel Castro's disasterous economic policies from the past 40 years, MSNBC would rather tout the ingenuity of those who have had to cope with the outcome of the failed policies as though this is something that should be emulated.
That's why the focus is on an individual who managed to put together a working car for $70 over a period of years. Yes, that's certainly commendable, but why should MSNBC want to highlight this over the reality that Cuba's economy is worse than awful and that there is absolutely no industry worth speaking of besides sugar cane and tobacco production, that the situation is even worse now that the former Soviet Union cannot subsidize the economy, and the only reason that the country loves all those classic US cars from the 1950s is because the overwhelming majority of people don't have the capital to actually buy modern cars (or anything else for that matter).
This is a society that has been reduced to scrounging for survival. The Cuban people deserve more than this.
And MSNBC should have known better.
2 comments:
News doesn't always have to be bad. I've seen many news programs showing places in the world that would be hell to live in, but where the people are finding hope. The occasional program portraying a hopeful situation when the news is generally bad isn't really going to detract from people's awareness of the overall situation I don't think... or at least hope!
You're right. News from hellholes doesn't always have to be bad. However, consider the following. How many positive news stories does the media report on places like Afghanistan or Iraq compared to the bad stories. The ratio is out of whack due to a combination of "if it bleeds, it leads" and media bias against the current Administration.
People are not getting the true extent of the depravity of Castro's Cuba when MSNBC puts forth this pablum. Is the public at large truly informed about living conditions in Cuba from a piece like this? I don't think so.
The situation in Cuba is dire because of Casto, yet the article glosses over that in order to relate how a few people have managed despite the long odds. It's shameful that MSNBC failed to do serious reporting to show what the economy is really like.
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