An Alternate Witness

Today the Jordan Times published a commentary that eviscerated NPR's bias towards Israel in reporting on the Palestinian Territories. I have to say, I'm disappointed, but not surprised. I trust NPR more than, say, Fox or CBS, but nonetheless I am all too aware that they, too, have a degree of bias.

More than a year ago, while I was in Jordan, I received an email from my father about a piece NPR did on the opinion of Jordanians vis-a-vis America and the war in Iraq. My father wanted to know if it sounded accurate to me. When I read the transcript, I was apalled. The NPR reporter, whose name I don't recall (unfortunately, I no longer have the transcript), had interviewed Iraqi long-range truckers stuck in Amman due to closed borders, and Palestinian taxi drivers, and from these extracted an extremely negative view of Americans. I have seen many such reports from many news and polling sources, but can't think of any that I've seen which reflected the opinions of the Jordanians I knew.

Over and over I heard, yes, the American government went out of their way to stir things up in Iraq where they had no business. Such comments were almost always qualified, however, with the sentiment, but Americans have been very good to us: e.g. granting visas to study in the US, building health clinics, offering free surgeries through Medicin sans Frontiers and Operation Smile, etc., putting computers in the schools, training teachers, providing wheelchairs and hearing aids and other tools for the handicapped, and on and on.

I don't know if you noticed the very fine distinction in that paragraph, but I never failed to hear it when listening to Jordanian opinions on America. That distinction is between "the American government" and "Americans." This is one of the things I love most about Jordanians, that not even most Europeans I know seem to note. Jordanians very easily, from a young age, differentiate between governments and their people. They recognize very quickly that the decisions and statements made by governments, even those elected by their people in a free democratic system, do not always represent all or even a majority of their constituents. Perhaps this is because Jordan is a police state, a dictatorship, however well-intentioned its kings may be. I, however, like to think that it's because so many Americans come to Jordan, or give their money or time to organizations that aid Jordanians.

Though studies show that the United States' government gives less in charitable aid to less fortunate nations, I have also read studies showing that Americans, per capita, give a higher percentage of their personal funds to charitable and humanitarian organizations than the people of any other nation. Of course, Americans have, per capita, more to give than most other nations, but having the money doesn't make one any more likely to give it away.