I've been to ONE other country and was perplexed by the news there, to say the least. . I'm only sixteen and not well-traveled, so I imagine you are way more educated than me in this field. The country I visited was Mexico; Mexico City, in fact. . I went on a trip with Spanish students from my school, most of which are accustomed to the nationalistic news we hear daily. I live in a wealthy, suburban area where close-minded people are about as common as Eminem fans. . The people I went with (with the exception of one of the teachers, an extremely well-traveled man) would've been a burden to our group and country as a whole had their views been expressed in a public forum.

Anyway, I went in February, right around the time that the anti-war sentiment had started to really heat up. There were rallies and mini-riots in the States as well as abroad. I brought home a Mexican newspaper as a way to remember this experience. Although it was in Spanish, I translated what I could and it was enlightening at the least. .

Perhaps I did misphrase my original post comparing rappers to Islamic martyrs. I could (should) have said that the martryrs are heroes to the followers of their religious BELIEFS. Not Islam, itself, but the interpretations that the martyrs extract from their holy book.

On the lines of media, each company or station that provides news for their people caters to their country's wishes. Of course the media in America is biased; it's freedom is monitored by the government. . But the same thing goes for all countries. In this scenario, whether the country at hand is third-world or westernly civilized, the media is held in check by the government. The injustice and bias from the government, however, is the violation of our own Constitution which grants TOTAL freedom of speech.

I'll be sure to pick up the movie, but I was wondering whether it was mainstream (could I find it @ BlockBuster or any chain). I'm also interested in what countries you have visited which helped in the formulation your ideas. Piece.

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