After reading a recent BBC article, I turned to Tess, (our esteemed editor here at [re]think aid), and asked: “This is kind of problematic, right? I mean, yes poop is funny, but it’s a bit discomforting that they’re making light of a real problem.”
“You should write a blog post about it,” Tess responded with a knowing look and a slight grin. She was right, she was always right when she told me that. Finally, after months of blustery rants as I walk into the office and vows to blog at the world about the frequent egregious ineptitude of most media outlets, I’m writing this blog post. With a little luck, and a frightening amount of self-discipline, this will be the first of a regular series of posts that examine how media (let’s be honest, specifically Western Media) tells the stories of those in the Global South.
For this first post, let’s talk about the BBC and the Cape Town “poo wars” (as named by South African media). At issue is the lack of sanitary and safe toilets for poor residents of Cape Town. Toilets are often shared between neighbors and are frequently unhygienic. Sanitation is a huge issue that can have disastrous health consequences for everyone in the area.
The article is not bad and, if you are so inclined, could even be considered good. What grabbed me was the headline: “Cape Town ‘poo wars’: Mass arrests in Cape Town”. It’s tongue in cheek, a trademark of British media. Is that really okay, though? (Probably not?) Sanitation is a monumental health issue around the world. Should a Western media outlets being poking fun at poor people demanding basic healthy living conditions? (Absolutely not.) It’s not all that hard to draw the direct line between South African poverty, apartheid and the lasting effect of the British colonialism. Is it fair to hold the BBC, of all news outlets, to a higher standard of sensitivity when it comes to places their country has so thoroughly messed up? (Of course it is.)
There is, of course, another way to look at this. A catchy headline followed by a serious article is an effective way to grab the attention of an otherwise indifferent public. Sure they risk making light of a serious subject that they have some indirect culpability in, but hey, small sacrifices for the greater good.
The reality, I would guess, is that they didn’t think all that much about it. There’s no by-line, so a South African may have even written it, changing the nature of the article entirely. And this is really the point of this project. How we perceive the Global South greatly impacts how we, as Westerners, approach the relevant issues in the Global South. We should be having a conversation about how the privileged tell the stories of the “other.” We need to consider how to balance the benefit of crafting a flashy and easily digestible story for a topic that that needs attention and the problems that arise from re-inscribing problematic attitudes into our experience of the world. This is really the central question I’ll be trying to explore in this series. We’d love to hear your thoughts too. The conversation is what matters. It’s gonna be great (or really boring, apologies in advance).
