Home > Letters to CR
Stefano Gaudiano on CR’s Cultural Issues and My Finding Flimsy Excuses to Indulge My Xenophobia
posted November 29, 2007
i don't know what it is this week, but you've got me griping again about cultural issues in your column.
you are indulging in the trend to focus narrowly on the most negative aspects of muslim/middle eastern culture. casual, offhand pointers like your 'there are no words' link are subtle and powerful reinforcements to an inimical attitude towards a culture that is already firmly set up as the U.S. bogeyman for the new century. the relation of the news item to comics (a tangetial mention of the danish cartoon debacle) is pretty flimsy.
i picked up a couple of news items that might qualify for inclusion in your column, because kids like comics
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/25/earlyshow/main690601.shtml
http://infowars.net/articles/september2007/280907Cake.htm
the difference here is that pointing out the uglier side of american culture to americans might make you popular or unpopular, but it's an act that stimulates introspection, and therefore is limited in its potential to steer an audience astray.
pointing out the uglier side of a foreign culture, particularly one that is generally perceived as hostile, is more likely to bolster ill feelings and misconceptions. the sort of thing that enables people to support wars of invasion, 'nuking the bastards' and what not.
any thoughts?
p.s. i should specify to you that when i wrote
"you are indulging in the trend to focus narrowly on the most negative aspects of muslim/middle eastern culture"
i didn't mean 'narrowly' in the sense that you focus only on the negative things; i meant that within that sort of news item the focus is invariably narrow - you get a dramatic snapshot without any broader context. we know nothing about sudan, lybia, iran etc. as we read, except for the problem. and there isn't a way to balance that through direct experience, the way it's possible to do when you can easily visit a neighboring country, or when you are looking at problems within your own culture.
Tom Spurgeon: I have absolutely no thoughts on the meat of this letter, except that I disagree with just about every word and every single idea you've expressed up to and including its applicability here. I invite any readers out there to engage your opinions if they'd like, whether to disagree or add their voices to yours.
The "flimsy" judgment you can kindly and respectfully stuff in your ass, though, Stefano. I've always posted whatever I want on whatever subjects I want and will continue to do so, so any subject's legitimacy begins and ends with me. Question the wisdom of those posts or characterize them however you'd like -- you're certainly not shy about that! -- but there is no competing standard for what goes up or what constitutes on-topic posting other than what I decide.
