Week 7: Fragmentation

During week one of class we discussed fragmentation in the Public Sphere. In The Public Sphere: An Introduction, McKee points out that "some popular and academic writers worry that the public sphere in Western countries is fragmenting. There's too much choice" (140). While reading What is the What by Dave Eggers, I kept wondering why the Lost Boys' story was never in the media. Now that I look back on McKee's definition of fragmentation in the public sphere, I can see why. Our public sphere is so fragmented that we don't all have the same interests. If people aren't interested in certain issues, they'll never know about them. Since our PS is so fragmented, we don't know about Africa because the media focuses on other things.

If we take a look at one of the biggest issues Valentino faced as a refugee, then as a Lost Boy-dependency, we can draw parallels to Africa's level of dependency. Africa's structure has evolved from the days of colonialism, into a new independent, socialist continent. Since there are multiple outlets that people use to educate themselves, which is a result of fragmentation, people don't know the level of suffering caused by dependency in Africa. If people don't have information about Africa readily available to them, they aren't going to look for it.