The United Nations vs. the heartland 

Chad Kent
June 14, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
Original Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/14/EDGLDJD60T1.DTL

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown delivered a speech last week that demonstrated exactly why many Americans despise the United Nations. During his remarks to the Century Foundation and the Center for American Progress, Malloch Brown stated that the positive ways that the United States works with the United Nations are: ...not well known or understood, in part because much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. That is what I mean by 'stealth' diplomacy: the United Nation's role is, in effect, a secret in Middle America even as it is highlighted in the Middle East and other parts of the world. 
Malloch Brown assumes that the only reason regular Americans could possibly disapprove of the disaster that is the United Nations is because we're too ignorant to know any better. Malloch Brown and U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan have tried to backpedal from that interpretation of the speech but these comments are crystal clear. He said very specifically that the role of the United Nations is a secret in the Midwest because the information that manages to make it all the way out here is limited to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. In fact, Malloch Brown stated in his speech, this problem is so serious that it could cause the United States to leave the United Nations. 
If he honestly believes that, then he ought to make an effort to correct the situation. Regrettably, he has not come to the Midwest to make his case. Instead, he stays in New York and whines about how difficult it is to get information to the public when an international organization has to compete against a radio talk-show host. 
Malloch Brown is well aware that the United States doesn't have state-controlled media. If he wants to counter Limbaugh and Fox News, he is free to do that. It's not difficult to get a hold of us out here in the Heartland; there are newspapers, television stations and speaking venues that would be thrilled to host an official from the United Nations. 
The bottom line is this: Unless Malloch Brown wants to come to the Heartland to discuss our problems with the United Nations, then he needs to keep his mouth shut. He may be shocked to find that we're actually pretty well informed out here in the backwoods. 
As anyone who wants to get anything accomplished in U.S. government knows: public discourse doesn't reach Middle America, it occurs here. It's truly amazing how clueless the officials at the United Nations can be. They've been insulting the United States for years and now they're somehow surprised to learn that a lot of Americans have hostile feelings toward the United Nations. 
Chad Kent is a freelance writer who lives in central Illinois.