Media Blog #6

I recently found this article on the New York Times' website and I found it really cool so I thought I'd post about it.

This article was talking about the creation of a special section in the NY Times Sunday paper by kids that talked about issues they feel are important to the people of America and their views on them. The group of kids is a 4th grade class from Queens where the students are primarily Latino and from low income households. The focus of the section was making the voices of the children heard, the main thing I loved about this and the thing I want to discuss.

I think in the world we live in, we forget some of the most important people surrounding us that can see things in ways nobody else can, the kids. In their innocence and youth, they can see things in a way that older people with calcified beliefs and ideologies cannot. In their innocence, their views can often times be wiser than those of adults. While many people would argue for the benefits in a large military, one of the kids in the NY Times special edition wants there to be more doctors and nurses. Kids also can and will be judgmental and aren't afraid to speak their minds unlike an adult who will filter what comes out of his or her mouth. To see through the eyes of a child is to see the world without bias and obstruction, and that is something we all too often forget. Kids are also observant as well. They pick up on a lot of things that goes over the heads of adults.

The idea that kids are observant made me think of something else as well. In the highly partisan times we live in where everything is politicized and tensions are high between people of differing ideologies, we have to remember that kids are watching. In the Anderson Cooper panel discussions between half a billion angry democrats and republicans, in Fox News segments where the end of the world is near, we need to bear in mind that the children are watching and picking up on all of this. The media needs to lead by example if the next generation is to be levelheaded and be able to compromise.

In closing, I just want to say that I love the idea of giving voice to those that watch but go unheard too often, the children. The idea of it really puts the chaos and political tension around us into perspective, to think that a large portion of the US population isn't thinking about war, but about how were going to combat animal extinction by eating more fruits and vegetables. The media today should take a moment to see things from a child's perspective because it better allows us to see things without bias and makes us think about how we can all change the world to make it a better place.



NY Times Article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/insider/kids-take-over-the-times-opinion-special-section.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FMedia&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection