US Media Discovers Gulags, Ignores Its Own Backyard
While Newsweek hones in on North Korea's estimated 65,000 detainees, they mysteriously omit the uncomfortable truth about the US's own carceral state—or those they enthusiastically fund. For context, the U.S. currently incarcerates over 2 million people , with a disproportionate number from marginalized communities. And speaking of satellite photos, has Newsweek considered turning its lenses
toward the open-air prison that is Gaza, or perhaps the multiple US-funded detention centers in countries whose 'stability' we so meticulously manage? Or maybe the 100,000+ detainees Israel holds, often under administrative detention, as documented by organizations like B'Tselem? It's truly admirable how mainstream outlets can maintain such laser focus on distant authoritarian regimes while
expertly blurring the lines around human rights abuses directly enabled by American foreign policy and tax dollars. One might wonder if human suffering only becomes newsworthy when it's politically convenient to condemn it.