Be ye informed

Monday's annual frolic known as Valentine's Day was rudely interrupted with the big news of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon, something that struck fear in the hearts of millions.

However, its significance almost escaped most of the world, with the screaming headline actually dwarfed on BBC's homepage by a huge pink rose and special piece on surviving Valentine's Day as a single person.

The first response to Hariri's death may be hopelessness or fear, depending on the viewer's nationality. Most Americans respond very differently to such news than say a Lebanese, Syrian, or Israeli. But there is a reason this news appears here in the Opinion section some days after the event. The point is not that Americans, or particularly EMU community members, must react in a certain way, but that they should know. This is particularly true of an EMU community that markets itself as globally-minded.

Hariri's death points out that often only major events-usually violent events or those involving powerful people-reach the TV screens of the average EMU dorm student. While the news is certainly not easy listening, members of such a community as EMU have both the opportunity and obligation to inform themselves.

Additionally, Americans as a whole must seek out news sources. By claiming the right to vote, Americans in the post-Cold War era are claiming to know not just what New York or California will need, but also Singapore and Cuba. Americans can no longer afford to be navel-gazers when their presidents see election as a mandate for war-making. If the United States is to be a beacon of democracy, then its citizens must use their own rights of democracy to be involved and speak their opinions.

But more than this, Americans are ethically obligated to make informed decisions. As the unbridled superpower in today's international landscape, the Unites States affects billions of people with its policies. Only when Americans seek out the truth about such policies and how they impact the world, will injustice decrease here or abroad.

The blame for Monday's events does not fall on American shoulders, at least not directly. Neither do the military blunders of the past few years originate with any one man, be he Bush or other. But in remaining ignorant, the citizens of the Unites States send the message that they accept as inevitable the plight of people affected by our leaders' policies. Such an attitude only increases the hopelessness and hate that have fueled the oppressed to pursue suicide bombing, like the one in Beirut on Monday.