Wanna be part of the media in Somalia? I sure as hell don't!!!!

So I was looking at some news and found an interesting story about radio stations in Mogadishu in the beautiful country of Somalia. Everyone knows about their infamous pirates, but I didn't know a whole lot about the country other than that. Well, this article paints a pretty picture of Somalia.

14 radio stations in Mogadishu are adhering to a ban by insurgent groups to stop playing music, or face dire consequences. This article goes on to say that if members of the media do not follow the insurgent's orders, they get anywhere from roughed up, to murdered. In 2009, nine journalists were killed in Somalia (did some research, Forbes made Somalia the most dangerous country in 2009). The ban also includes no foreign news broadcasts, especially broadcasts from the BBC and the Voice of America.

This is the most vivid quote in the entire article: "We are really losing all hope of life,” said Hashi Abdullahi, who said he liked to listen to music. The insurgents have “punished our life with bullets, and today they are punishing us with a ban on all types of music.”

I think this is vivid because it paints a brutal picture of a civilian in Somalia. Its amazing that music was actually helping to lift the spirits of some of the Somalians, and with this ban, I look at this quote and see a man who is utterly helpless to do anything in his country. He can't leave, he can't do what he wants, he lives in constant fear. This man is not living, he is merely existing.

The point of all of this is to say how glad I am that I live in a free country, and will want to work in one of many free countries when I'm done with school. The most fearful thing that I, a person interested in sports, has to worry about is probably whether or not I offend a sports star. Look at Don Imus, he offended an entire team and he didn't die for what he said!

Extremely interesting article, and really eye opening to the fragile state of some of the third world countries in the world. Somalia gets a lot of publicity because of the pirates, but just imagine what some of these other countries that don't have the publicity that an Iran, Iraq(3), Afghanistan(2), Somalia(1), and Cuba have had. What do you know about the Democratic Republic of Congo(4), Sri Lanka(7), Yemen(8), etc...

*(the number next to the country is where Forbes ranks them on the most dangerous country)