THE MEDIA SHIES AWAY FROM SHOWING HUMAN SUFFERING IN THE US DUE ECONOMY

Is anyone, other than I, surprised that our media shows little of the suffering of the common people, the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, the ones without medical insurance.it seems similar to the Bush ban on showing flag draped caskets of the military dead.

A 9 year old, whose parents had divorced, died after his mother failed to give him needed medication. by his mother with whom he resided, that was prescribed. Doctors had custody returned to the father, but by then it was too late to save his life. On TV I recall having heard mother say she had not the money to fill the prescriptions. I may have misheard since the topic was only briefly mentioned but I note that she had no religious or other reasons for withholding medication.

Tonight the news showed security camera film of a 41 year old man holding up, at gun point, a convenience store at 3 AM, accompanied by his terrified looking 9 year old daughter. After he was handed the contents of the cash register, he told the clerk that he had been out of work for months and needed the money to feed his daughter.

Without doubt, both of these parents had choices that would have been more desirable to most intelligent people. However, when people live in poverty, they are not usually well-nourished or thinking their most clearly. They do not often have the problem solving resources required in such situations, either for lack of experience, ability to problem solve, fear of repeated rejection and many other reasons that are less likely to happen to well-educated, mentally and physically healthy, bright experienced people. Alas that latter description is not given to the majority of our population.

"Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income that must be dropped. Being poor means being an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets. While I was not able to find current statistics, in 2005 1 in 50 children would be homeless."