Wondering about TIME

Check out these international versions of the cover of TIME magazine for Dec. 5, 2011.  

The left is the USA edition .......................... European edition ......................... Asia & S. Pacific editions.

I could just say “no comment,” the title of a great page in Ms. Magazine. But I guess that’s not in my nature …

So I’m wondering, what does this difference say to us?

• Does it mean that readers elsewhere are interested in the dramatic changes happening around the world, but people in the US are concerned only about their personal levels of anxiety? “Don’t worry your pretty little heads about this ‘revolution.’ Think, instead about whether a little bit of anxiety might serve you well in business or in school.” The idea of Americans as obsessed with their personal well-being isn't new. Self-fulfillment and personal growth are buzzwords for a massive industry that thrives even in hard times.

• Does it say that folks in other nations can handle the images of war in the streets, whereas Americans are accustomed to an information stream that is sanitized so as not to make people too uncomfortable? This sanitization is made easier, needless to say, when a few companies own most media outlets.

•  Or does it say that these revolutionary changes are only happening “over there,” so there’s no need to focus on them “over here”? Obviously, this ignores the “Occupy” movement that began in NYC and has spread across the country. And what about the talk that those events could foretell a revolution right here in US? The TIME cover story is about Egypt. The headline asks whether the renewed activism might put the “Arab Spring” at risk. It’s interesting to wonder who, exactly, would be at risk if the “revolution” were on the front page of TIME. Honestly not talking conspiracy theories here … just wondering.

• Or is I the timing? Is it that this is the holiday season, when joyous greetings, joyous songs, and joyous spending are virtually compulsory? Surely, we don’t need ugly pictures of street conflict on the cover of the Dec. 5 issue.

•  Or does it simply echo the claims that the US population is “dumbed down” by education that’s far behind other countries and by the absence of serious media coverage of difficult topics? Dumbed down enough that we pick a cute cartoon about anxiety over a disquieting photograph of revolution in the streets.

Likely, it’s several of these, and probably others. Whichever, it’s troubling when one of our major mainstream “news magazines” frames “news” so differently for US readers than for readers elsewhere around the world. It makes me wonder …