(CNN)The world is at last, reluctantly, looking at the horrors unfolding in Aleppo. The dictatorship of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with the support of Iran, Russia, Hezbollah and other Iran-organized Shiite militias, has all but pulverized parts of the city, deliberately attacking hospitals and homes and targeting non-combatants and civilians.
They are carrying out a new form of ethnic cleansing, with Shiites expelling Sunnis and making it impossible for them to return to their destroyed homes.
Public apathy greenlights leaders' inaction Remember the infamous "What is Aleppo?" response by a candidate for president of the United States? When Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson revealed his stunning ignorance about the epicenter of a war that is at the heart of today's most pivotal conflict, we thought it showed he was not qualified to be president. Instead, his answer revealed that too many voters simply don't care. Johnson ended up receiving enough votes that if his backers had supported Clinton, she would now be President-elect. (See the vote totals in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.) If the voters don't care, it's much easier for leaders to fail to take action, and much costlier, politically, to make risky decisions. The question is, why don't voters care? Part of the responsibility lies with the media, which became so consumed with the election -and with the ratings it brought -- that it allowed the Syrian conflict to lapse into relative oblivion. The media has a duty to educate. We've had too much Kanye West, not enough Eastern Aleppo.
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