Do the American Media Talk Too Much?

My friend Cecelia is from Nigeria. She came by today and we talked at length about the shame she is feeling because of the young Nigerian man who attempted to blow up that Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. We also had a fascinating discussion about her community's grave concern for the safety and well-being of the would-be bomber's family.

Some white Americans seem to have difficulty understanding the concept of collective shame -- the kind I feel, for example, when an African American commits some horrible crime; the kind felt by some Italian Americans when a mobster of Sicilian descent orders a hit that becomes front-page news. Cecelia told me today that ALL Nigerians, both in the United States and in Nigeria, are mortified by the involvement of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in a plot allegedly sponsored by Yemen-based Al Qaeda functionaries. She even confessed that she had recently decided to say she is from Ghana or from "the Islands," rather than let on that she is Nigerian.

As I listened, I understood. This was something I could wrap my brain around because I had experienced it -- often.

Cecelia's fear for the safety of the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's family was another matter. Naively, I asked "Why? Who would do harm to his family?"

There has never been a moment of greater clarity for me about the cultural differences between an American of African descent and a native African. Generally, when an American double crosses an adversary or commits some transgression against another person, the retaliation is visited upon the person who did it. In Nigeria, I'm told, because Mr. Abdulmutallab's father went to the U. S. authorities in Nigeria and warned that his son was up to no good, not only Abdulmutallab Sr., but also every member of his extended family -- sons, daughters, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews --will be targeted for death. Cecelia said there is no way to hide in Nigeria. No matter how rich and prominent this family apparently is, they will be hunted down and slaughtered by Islamic jihadists.

The American press, with its never-ending need to be first with a story, the more sensational the better, might well have sentenced to death a host of innocent people who are guilty of nothing more than being related to a father who desperately tried to prevent another unthinkable assault on the American people. We are notorious for being oblivious to and ignorant of the cultures of the world. We tell it like it is. Let it all hang out, in front of God and everybody. Let us pray that Cecelia is wrong, that she is simply overwrought and embarrassed by this mad man's actions. But what if she isn't wrong? I believe journalists have a responsibility to learn enough about the cultures of the world to know when their zeal for the scoop could result in catastrophic events far away from their keyboards and microphones.