And that's when Twitter came in handy. SEK over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money has found something that the reactionary conservatives in this country might want to take a look at.
.jpg)
.jpg)
For those of you that aren't familiar with the man doing the bowing in these photos, that's former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. You know, one of the men that helped us defeat the Nazis and Japanese back in the 40s. I think it's a fair assumption that people like Morrissey and "The Purse-Lipped-One" Michelle Malkin aren't going to admit that there is not set protocol when greeting heads of state from other countries. However, and this is something that conservatives REALLY don't want to even begin to understand, when greeting someone of a different culture, there are customs when greeting others.
For instance, bowing and Japanese culture are widely recognized around the world.
When dealing with non-Japanese people, many Japanese will shake hands. Since many non-Japanese are familiar with the custom of bowing, this often leads to a combined bow and handshake which can be quite complicated to execute. Bows may be combined with handshakes or performed before or after shaking hands. Generally when bowing in close proximity, as necessitated when combining bowing and shaking hands, people turn slightly to one side (usually the left) to avoid bumping heads.
Looks to me like Obama is following Japanese tradition and it is reciprocated. This is how diplomacy works - show the person you are going to be speaking with that you understand their culture and aren't some blithering buffoon who's likely to puke in your lap.
But back to the Ike side of this story. Should this actually be something that conservatives respond to, it is likely that they will create some line of reasoning that shows that he truly didn't matter in the landscape of American history or that his status as a Republican is irrelevant to the discussion.
Let's remove Obama from the equation for a moment. What do wingnut conservatives know about the cultures of other countries? Is this why they are so against diplomacy - they're afraid that they'll make a fool of themselves for being so unblushingly ignorant?
9 comments:
Of course the Republicans know that this is a non-issue. This is simply Rovian strategy. Keep up the constant drum beat of negativity and criticism. Most Americans have the attention span of a toddler. They will catch a small clip of this on the news and will never take two minutes to look for the truth or even another point of view. After months of Faux news and viral emails minds are changing and the sheeple don't even remember why they ever liked Obama in the first place. It's disgusting, but it works.
Theses pictures show the fully respect to each other..
I wonder how the wing nuts would react if obama did not bow or kiss the ring before the pope
great blog, just got linked to it and I believe it will become a daily visit for me
perris
oops
I forgot to suggest, you might want to find some pics of our's and other heads of state being recieved and recieving the pope
I'd like to see that
The Republicans do it chiefly to annoy Democrats. I think the goal is to see if they can make Keith Olbermann's head explode.
My wife was a commissioned officer in the US Coast Guard. Prior to being introduced to Queen Elizabeth, my wife was instructed by US State Department personnel on the correct way to bow to a foreign potentate. She was told to bow with respect, but not obeisance. However, this may be too fine a distinction for the conservative pundits to perceive.
Come on - every good Bircher knows that Eisenhower was a commie stooge! And the modern Radical Republic is nothing but a Bircher with a dose of the Klan for leavening.
Look...they are simply fomenting this nonsense to incite that simple minded subset of the nation that has no conception of the world beyond their back yard.
If Obama didn't bow, it'd be proof that he's arrogant. And a Muslim.
Post a Comment