Hot Docs: Rethinking America's Role in the World, Endangered Languages

Study Says America Must Rethink Its Role: A new study on America's role in the world concludes that the United States must change the way it wields power. The report, "Ready to Lead? Rethinking America's Role in a Changed World," comes from Chatham House, an independent group in London that studies international issues. It details how such actions as holding prisoners in Guantánamo Bay and secret sites outside the United States "undermined American's international credibility with its allies and confirmed the anti-U.S. narrative of its opponents." The U.S. financial collapse, its entanglement in Iraq, and its stalled plan to spread democracy have all contributed to a weakening of "America's international leadership," the study says. As result, the United States needs to focus on "becoming more of an enabler of change and less often its instigator. And, if it is going to lead, then it needs to lead more by example and less by intervention."

Endangered Languages: Some 2,500 languages are in danger of disappearing, taking with them poems, legends, proverbs, and jokes, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's latest edition of the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. The new electronic version of the atlas allows searches and ranks languages as unsafe, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered, and extinct. In the last three generations, 200 of the world's existing 6,000 languages have become extinct. In addition, 199 languages have fewer than 10 speakers. "The death of a language leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible cultural heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions and oral expressions of the community that spoke it—from poems and legends to proverbs and jokes," said UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura. "The loss of languages is also detrimental to humanity's grasp of biodiversity, as they transmit much knowledge about the nature and the universe."

Homeowners Underwater: Some 30 percent of mortgage holders believe that their house is now worth less than the amount they owe on it, a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey shows. The survey, conducted February 4 through 8 of 1,303 adults, also found that those who consider themselves underwater on their mortgage are "generally younger, less affluent, and more likely to be Hispanic or African-American than those who feel they would at least break even if they had to sell today." Nearly a quarter of those underwater are under 30, and 64 percent have children under 18 and living at home. Despite such data, Americans still love homeownership. A Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey reveals that 90 percent find their home a comfort, while just 6 percent say it is a burden. Overwhelmingly, people say it is a good time to buy a house (65 percent to 27 percent) and a bad time to sell, (79 percent to 13 percent).

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