How often is what we hear on the news true?
In her letter to Clara Breed, Fusa Tsumagari informs Miss Breed, the beloved librarian by every Japanese-American child back in 1941 and beyond about her latest news at the internment camp. At first, she expresses her gratitude for the puzzles and readings Miss Breed had sent her to fill her time with entertaining material, instead of focusing on the hardships of camp. She then expresses her apologies for not having written to her in a while, not knowing the reason why. Instead, Tsumagari innocently states that her conscience is tormenting her for that matter, and waiting any longer to write to Miss Breed would give her nightmares.
She then moves on to sharing the news on camp. She expresses that some Japanese-American men were prosecuted for unrealistic allegations. Yet, despite the Japanese-Americans protesting, they couldn’t prevent the prosecution from happening. They instead feared the biased judge the guilty men will have to interact with, merely for not being a white American. Tsumagari even conveys the hypocrisy she hears when the news on the radio does not accurately describe what is occurring in the camp.
This makes me wonder, how often do we hear unrealistic news? How often have we believed incorrect news? How do the people being spoken about feel when they hear that their news is being inaccurately conveyed to the world, underestimating their miseries? Why do we never question the accuracy of the news we hear while sitting on the couch and watching TV or listening to the news radio channel? Are we merely bound to accept them?
