KATIE GARLINGHOUSE Ho-u A .r R EE The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 2, 2006 - 5 Trying to care THERESA KENNELLY Tif--'S A REAON NOTABLE QUOTABLE Do you think your life will be affected by the Day Without Immigrants?" - Poll question on CNN.com on Monday, May 1, the day hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the nation took time offfrom work to participate in protests againsttougher immigration regulations currently pending in Congress. LETTER TO THE EDITOR How to write a letter to the edi- tor for the Daily TO THE DAILY: The editorial page editor writes this sample letter instead of a boring official letters policy to clarify exactly what a letter to the editor should look like and what it should say. As you see, the title is brief and deals directly with the content and argument of the letter. The body should address a story or editorial printed in any section of the Daily or any other issue the writer cares to write about. It From time to time, you hear about big-name celeb- rities saying goodbye to their pilates routines and diamond-encrusted bathroom faucets to go "rough it" in some pover- ty-stricken African coun- try that few American middle schoolers will ever even learn about in their social-studies classes. The celebrities may play soccer with starving children, tour devastated residential areas with a distressed mother suffering from a life-threatening ill- ness or teach the natives a few English words so their cameramen can capture the moment and relay it to Oprah. This publicity stunt has increased in popularity among Hollywood VIPs to include A-list stars like Angelina Jolie and George Clooney - all hoping to bring back stories of poverty and genocide to the uneducated American people. Whether or not their intentions are to pro- mote their next movies, these actors provide one of the only possible ways to get Ameri- cans to think about the problems in regions such as the Darfur province of Sudan. They are simply using their status to bring atten- tion to global issues that often go ignored in America - all the while looking like out- standing members of society. Through brief film clips on "20/20" and interviews via satel- lite with Katie Couric, they hope Americans will respond to their grueling explorations with an increased interest in - and perhaps monetary contributions to - the regions they are campaigning for. But for some reason, no matter how many beautiful stars live in squalor for months on end or develop catchily named donation funds to bring clean water to needy areas, most Americans still don't care about Africa. Although happy to see their favorite movie stars championing good causes, most Ameri- cans still don't think twice about the dis- tressed regions or donate to funds once "The Today Show" moves to its next segment. From the outside, it's easy to call Americans lazy or ethnocentric, or blame them for not giving a damn about what happens in faraway places. But this name-calling is misguided, because the thing that actually prevents many Americans from caring about Africa is the media. Due to the continent's lack of media attention, issues such as the genocide in Dar- fur and human-rights violations in Uganda are absent from the thoughts of most Ameri- cans. The media allows its viewers to be igno- rant and lazy by only reporting on issues that materially impact America and by failing to stress the importance of caring about long forlorn places like Africa. The closest news programs come to focusing on Africa is reporting on the latest American doctor who has made strides in finding a cure for AIDS or a rural American family who has kindly taken in Nigerian orphans to save them from the dangers of Africa. It almost seems as if media sources are afraid to directly address the real prob- lems and describe the actual conditions Africans face every day, so they settle by only reporting on America's involvement with the issues in the continent. Meanwhile, an entire race of Sudanese people continues to be wiped out by gov- ernment soldiers, and two million of the country's people are homeless or have fled to surrounding countries. The situation in Darfur may already have deteriorated to resemble Rwanda, where millions of people were massacred by the government in the early 90's but America's attention was lim- ited, even after the powerful account of the genocide in the movie "Hotel Rwanda." Sadly, unless the genocide in Darfur hikes American gas prices or a disease breaks out in that country and threatens America, the media still won't let its viewers care. It's no wonder that only about .003 percent of American college students choose to study abroad in Africa. That part of the world might as well be uncharted to most Americans because nearly everything there is unfamiliar. Many Americans are probably clueless when it comes to locating Darfur on a map. Africa is disconnected from American life and will remain that way until the media faces the truth about situations developing on the conti- nent and makes Americans face them. Because of this diluted awareness, the need for celebrities to rally support for Africa - especially as America announces it will cut federal aid to the continent by almost half - is becoming more necessary. Demonstra- tions, like the one last Sunday in Washington led by famous faces like Clooney and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), continue to encour- age American interest in African concerns. And these attempts are slowly starting to see a positive response. So we should be grateful for the grow- ing number of actors who take the initiative to popularize the struggles in foreign lands - even if only to shift attention away from a recent divorce or allegations of drug abuse. Americans must rely on them for sparking interest in African issues, especially since the media continues to ignore urgent situations like Darfur. For now, the best thing Americans can give Africa is the attention it deserves. Kennelly can be reached at thenelly@umich.edu. DeVos's deception: the single business tax JARED GOLDBERG I' Nor Nr v r is always helpful to provide the title and date of any par- T he 2006 elections ticular story that is referenced. are still more than Letters may be as scathing as the writer wishes, but six months away, be aware that no personal insults or content otherwise yet already we're seeing deemed inappropriate will be printed. As always, the edi- y campaign ads. My favorite for reserves the right edit all letters. A good length for a .. features likely Republican letter is about as long as this one - no more than 300 gubernatorial candidate words. To submit a longer Viewpoint, arrangements can be Dick DeVos and his veiled made by contacting the editorial page editor. criticism of Gov. Jennifer Finally, read the bottom of this letter to see exactly what Granholm's unwillingness information about the writer is required to make letters to drop the single business tax (often incorrect- eligible for printing. The Daily does not print anonymous ly labeled the small business tax) - without a letters except in rare circumstances in which anonymity is means to make up lost revenue. absolutely vital to prevent personal harm to the writer. It opens with DeVos driving in his car, occa- And that's it! Happy reading, and I look forward to sionally peering out the passenger and driver-side receiving you letters. windows, looking dismayed - as if the scenery is indicative of something awful in Michigan. Writer's Full Name The next shot has him in a round table discus- School and class level sion with a small group of mostly white males, Any relevant affiliations the writer may have with on all of whom complain about how hard it is to start and off-campus organizations. a business in Michigan - what with so many taxes and all. DeVos explains that he wants to create more jobs in the state, and to do that, he needs to make Michigan a better environment WANT TO WRITE MORE THAN JUST LETTERS for business development. While he doesn't say how, if you read his statements in the newspa- THIS SUMMER? pers, it's pretty clear what DeVos wants to do. JOIN THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE DAILY! I won't delve into the specifics about the SBT because, frankly, I don't know much about it. What I do know is that DeVos's theory about creating jobs in Michigan by cutting taxes simply doesn't work. Over the past 16 years, Michigan has cut taxes FOR MORE IWORMATION. across the board. As a result, the state now has a lower tax burden than at least 30 other states. Yet jobs have not been created here. According to DeVos's theory, states where the tax burden is the lowest - such as Alabama and Mississippi - should be some of the best places to create jobs, whereas states where the tax burden is the high- est - such as New York - should be the worst. But, in reality, the states with the lowest amount of taxes per-capita are also among the poorest and have some of the worst job development to match. DeVos babbling on about wanting to cre- ate jobs in Michigan is akin to Pablo Escobar, the infamous Colombian drug lord, telling kids not to smoke crack. DeVos, for those who don't know,is the son of billionaire Richard DeVos Sr., the founder of Amway, a multi-level marketing firm. During his tenure as the head of that com- pany, DeVos Jr. laid off 1,400 workers in 1998 and 2000. At the same time, he invested hun- dreds of millions of dollars into the construction of manufacturing plants in China. So you could say he created many new jobs ... in China. Coupled with his recent criticism of Gran- holm's minimum-wage increase, it's clear what DeVos thinks creates jobs in Michigan: busi- nesses where workers make three cents an hour and pay virtually no taxes. If that's what you're looking for, then Dick, I wish you the best of luck. You have a better chance finding Jimmy Hoffa than you do finding workers to work for less than minimum wage - and certainly not in Michi- gan, the birthplace of the United Auto Nrkers. But DeVos should know better because his hometown, Grand Rapids, is a good example of what makes a city prosper. The city was on a decline until after 1990, when, under the direc- tion of a group which included DeVos, it turned itself around and eventually joined Ann Arbor as one of only two cities in Michigan to have a net increase in population. And it didn't do it through tax cuts, either. Grand Rapids, in addi- tion to continuing its own growth, has voted to increase taxes twice since that time. Considering that both DeVos and his wife, Betsy - former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party - are close friends of President Bush's campaign advisor Karl Rove, and that she may have worked with Rove on election strategies, there should be a sense of caution when listening to her husband's campaign ads.If this report turns out to be true, I wouldn't be surprised to see new campaign ads likening Granholm to Osama Bin Laden, with messages like, "Granholm wants more taxes; Bin Laden wants to kill you. Jennifer and Osama both hate your freedom." I'm not endorsing Jennifer Granholm (yet), and she certainly hasn't been the greatest gov- ernor Michigan has ever had. She did cut fund- ing to the state's public universities, resulting in more than $1,000 increases in tuition at the University alone. She's not perfect and she's had to deal with budget shortfalls from the federal government, jobs emigrating from the state and a whole load of other inherited problems. But to believe DeVos is the next best thing - or possibly better - is a joke. Goldberg can be reached at jaredgo@umich.edu.