Cultural Insensitivity At Its Finest

A person that comprehends and respects another's culture, is a person that will gain the respect and understanding from the other. It's that simple. But this discussion warrants additional context. Showing such respect is particularly important when you are the leader of a country, namely, the President of the U.S.A. Additionally, cultural awareness is particularly important when you are the President of a country that is internationally notorious for being uncultured. How about this war we are in? And not to belabor the point, but we are also under a new era of presidency; a presidency that is charged with undoing many international blunders of a forsaken previous hegemony; a country that is viewed internationally as hypocritical for its treatment of detainees, ego-centric, and quickly losing ground as a super-power.

Given the context, it is not only reasonable, but applaudable for our President to show respect and understanding to another global leader. Cultural affinity and sophistication are two good reasons why President Barak Obama chose to bow to the Japanese Emperor Akihito. Yet, to the world's dismay and unsurprisingly so, certain neo-conservtatives could not stomach such tolerance to an important American ally. So they had to ruin it by vomiting their vile political pus all over it.

Let's take, for example, comments from an obviously intelligent neo-con, Mr. William Kristol, a leader and founder of many neo-con think-tanks. As a frequent commentator on radioactive Fox News, he stated on air: "I don't know why President Obama thought that was appropriate. Maybe he thought it would play well in Japan. But it's not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one."

There you have it--Plain and simple. Obama didn't bow in prostration or put brown, er, more brown on his nose. He bowed out of respect and affinity. A gesture so common and expected in most Asian cultures that even martial arts opponents bow to each other just prior to beating the other into submission. And who else to speak such ignorance than Mr. Kristol, a leader of the neo-con political movement.

Let's review some of his more intelligent and memorable epitaphs:
1. "There is no health care crisis."
2. A war in Iraq "could have terrifically good effects throughout the Middle East."
3. Saddam was "past the finish line" in developing nuclear weapons. "He's got weapons of mass destruction." [anecdote - there were no WMD].

Think-tank? I can't square this dichotomy...it requires thinking, doesn't it?? I suppose in their minds, our President shouldn't be bowing. He should be turned around and bending over.

Here are 2 Yahoo articles on this discussion:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091116/pl_afp/japanusdiplomacyasiaobama

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091120/pl_afp/usjapandiplomacyroyalscustoms_20091120005649

Objective Reporting via Editorials, the New Source of News

The recent tragedy that has befallen on Ft. Hood soldiers and America is unfortunate and shocking. But it does provide a unique opportunity for Americans to think critically of media "news reporting". Are news reports supposed to be informative, or instead be spoon-feeding readers digested and regurgitated vomit? We rely on reporting as the primary means of informing ourselves, yet we read blindly. Please think for yourself, and don't allow others to think for you. Compare reports on this event from major national and local news bureaus and note the bias and subtleties within.

Here's is a sample I pulled, and as Levar Burton would say “but you don’t have to take my word for it…” [-ta dan tun-] The objective reports will be obvious, compared to the articles laden with obvious political, religious, and social distortions. Keep in mind the primary goal for news reporting (should be) is to inform, not to convince. BTW, this only takes a few minutes, yet drives home an important principle: the need for objective reporting. TIP: depending on your browser, you may be able to right click each link and select "open in new tab". This will make panning between articles for comparison much easier.

Sample reports:

1. http://www.examiner.com/x-21184-Homeland-Security-Examiner~y2009m11d6-Army-Islamic-radical-kills-13-and-wounds-30

2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/06/nidal-malik-hasan-fort-hood-shooting1

3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/06/AR2009110601978.html

4. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125755853525335343.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories#articleTabs%3Darticle%26mg%3Dcom-wsj

5. http://www.star-telegram.com/texas/story/1743689.html

6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8347501.stm