A Diplomat
McClatchy has a nice opinion piece by a former US diplomat, Dennis Jett, who has decided that he has had enough: U.S. should ‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’ before ‘Going Rogue’
It didn’t seem that way not so very long ago. People around the world breathed a sigh of relief when the presidency changed hands and there appeared to be an administration in Washington that was willing to work with other nations to address some of the world’s problems.
Then the reality of America’s two-party political system set in — the party of hope and the party of nope.
The former hoped it might someday use its majorities in congress and control of the White House to actually accomplish something. It hasn’t because, aside from calling themselves Democrats, the party members seem to have not that much in common.
For its part, the latter party staked its political future on being the party of Reagan — Nancy not Ronnie. Just say no became their answer to everything. They have been devoid of ideas since they failed to come up with a convincing sound bite during the last election for why the McCain/Palin ticket should be put in power. “Employ the elder and inexperienced” for some reason did not resonant with enough voters.
This is the problem with living outside the US for an extended period, you achieve a sense of reality and see the world for what it is, not what you want it to be. This is accomplished by the separation from the media bubble that numbs the minds of most of America. There is no diversity in American media, it has been homogenized by corporations.
6 comments
Nice.
May I quote you?
S
homogenized by corporations.
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.-= last blog ..Uber-Greedos (& Stoopidos) & Liars – Oh My! (Pentagon to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms’ With Molecular Kill-Switch) =-.
I would take it as a compliment, Suzan, thank you.
Yeah, really… That is a good quote. 🙂 And sadly, true. *sigh*
And you are quite right. It’s amazing how even previous supporters change their tune once they actually spend a significant amount of time actually experiencing the rest of the World, and have their eyes opened from their former myopic nose-length view of the USA. That certainly helped my personal perspective.
Speaking of American diplomats who resigned in frustration, John Brady Kiesling is my favorite example. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak in about 2004 at Rice, shortly after his resignation. One thing that quickly became obvious is that Kiesling has exactly the right attitude as a diplomat… and diplomat he was, packed full and running over, a 20+-year career man. But that did not suit the George W. Bush administration, and they made life impossible for him, despite his superb performance over those 20 years. IMHO, America’s loss in Kiesling’s premature retirement is incalculable. But what could he do, when he was given nothing… or worse… to work with?
As a nation, America lives or dies by its relationships to other nations. Bush’s and (apparently) Obama’s incomprehension of this simple fact doesn’t remove the fact, or even conceal it very well. We have got to stop electing cowboys to the presidency.
Yeah, definitely Steve! Or Actors… 😉 After all… An actor is by definition, a trained consummate liar. Think about it. 😉 I have nothing against actors, so long as we all know when they are *acting*. 🙂
The prerequisite for ignoring diplomacy and the rest of the world is to be self-sufficient. There was a time when the US could live in isolation, but that time is no more, thanks to globalization and outsourcing.
Starting the foreign policy from zero every four to eight years is a fairly insane process. We can no longer ignore the rest of the world, because multinational corporations have made us dependent on it.
Since the media re-purposed the “news” from information to entertainment, the US population has collectively lost 40 IQ points. Just as people needed more information about the rest of the world, “journalism” decided to cut costs and eliminate foreign bureaus.