Entitlements
In a recent podcast comedian and celebrity personality Adam Corolla railed against the Occupy Movement generation as America’s new “fucking self-entitled monsters” who “think the world owes them a living.” Corolla bases his insults on the development and creation of a youth culture in America which leaves recent college graduates unprepared for the real world, sets up unrealistic expectations, and rewards the “losers” just for trying.
Corolla has a point. A book entitled Generation Me written by psychology professor Jean Twenge does a far better job of elucidating this trend and understanding it’s manifestations than Corolla’s crass bullying, but his attack and extrapolation that the Occupy Movement is simply about young people “throwing shit at another person’s car” is pervasively misguided.
Dire Straits
Editor’s Note: This article is a response to Paul V. Kane’s op-ed in The New York Times which suggested the United States reduce its budget deficit by ending military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan.
Few articles have riled me up as much as this one, which exemplifies the misguided conventional thinking regarding China. It is a microcosm of the wishful thinking that permeates the global community at the moment. Here are a few reasons why Paul Kane is wrong.
Geo-political
Taiwan is an old, old ally of the United States, with strong political and cultural ties. Taiwan sends a significant portion of its youth to be educated in the United States. To “ditch” them, as Kane suggests so casually, would severely damage U.S. credibility in Asia.
Every Dog Has Its Day
I bought a ticket for Two Dogs’ Opinions on Life on a whim. The Kennedy Center website described the show as “an avant-garde contemporary theatre piece”; an “improvisational comedy.” Whatever that meant. Putting my theatre major to work, I decided to approach the experience as an academic exercise, and with notebook in hand I took my seat between a young Chinese couple and a pair of old white ladies.
The audience was predominantly Asian (presumably Chinese) couples and families, with the remainder consisting of older Kennedy Center regulars and a few young, would-be aesthetes like myself. I dutifully sketched out a floor-plan of the set: TVs here, oil drums there, a door frame, a short armchair, two off-beat painted drops in black and white, instruments and seating for a four-piece rock band. One of the old ladies wondered aloud if this was supposed to be the Chinese version of Second City. I didn’t know what to expect, but I had a pretty good idea it wasn’t that.
When the band took their seats and started playing a low riff and our two actors stepped on the drab, junk-laden stage wearing cargo shorts, ragged blazers, and Kanye glasses—looking like the swag, hipster cast of Waiting for Godot—I knew this was going to be my kind of show.
Sic Semper Terrorists
The most notorious terrorist in the world is dead. We hope that the death of Osama bin Laden offers those who have suffered from his crimes a belated sense of closure. We receive the news with somber hearts and hope that the price America and the world paid for his capture was not too great.
Burying the Lead
It’s difficult for me to judge just how Orwellian China’s carefully groomed, state-run news coverage is: in America, coverage of the news is centered around the image of the news program or network; not the state. I do follow the BBC, therefore state-run media is not entirely out of my experience; but the BBC news website has not reported this story…
Exporting Asian-America
There is a well-oiled pop machine in South Korea. It seeks out obscure Asian teenagers from across the globe, signs them into draconian 8 year contracts, and cultivates them in rigorous training camps. After years of intense dance and vocal lessons, language education, and exacting physical exercise, these “trainees”, the future Rains and BoAs, are unleashed upon Asian markets as superbly packaged solo or group pop products.
El Salvador’s Growing Pains: What About the Locals?
In northern El Salvador a dam is being built on the Torola River. The Torola River is one of the largest in the country, located in an area in the department of San Miguel known as El Chaparral. The El Chaparral Dam began construction earlier this year and is slated to take 50 months (just over four years) to complete. When finished, it will function as a 65.4MW hydroelectric plant that will provide electricity to 200,000 families in the region.
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