In Thailand, embattled Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was forced out from office by the country’s Constitutional Court. If you think the Courts found him guilty of graft, corruption, abuse of power, blowing up girls with bombs or inciting religious hatred, think again.
The Constitutional Court actually found him guilty of violating the Constitution by appearing in a cooking show and accepting payment for it! A freaking cooking show!
What's Cooking?
If that’s not funny, ponder this: As a replacement to the dismissed Samak, guess who would the ruling P.P.P government nominate to fill in the vacancy? Why, it’s Samak Sundaravej! Sounds crazy, but it’s possible in Thailand.
Now over to the land of “serious” democracy, the United States of America, the race to the White House continues to be a tight one but only in America, where it really matters.
But do the Americans feel the same? In the U.S, both candidates are neck-to-neck, despite the Republican’s disastrous two terms under President Bush and despite McCain’s old age, antiquated world view, and general lack of charisma, the Republican campaign is still buzzing along merrily.
It’s a mystery to most of us outside of the U.S why such an obvious choice be so “not obvious” to the average Americans.
Well, just like we accuse them of viewing things locally and in isolation, we also tend to view the US for what they do internationally and in relation to other nations. We failed to appreciate that, despite their global presence; America is just like any other nation in the world with its own unique domestic subtext.
We dismiss the existence of a rising Christian community in the U.S. We ignore the number of registered gun owners. We forget the deep insecurities jobless Americans face through globalization. We laugh at the hillbillies and rednecks, but they’re still voters.
Our view of America is shaped by Desperate Housewives (Bree must be a Republican), Gossip Girl and other shows that perpetuates some myth about America being the land of the promiscuous, the prosperous and the glamorous. The reality is there could be just as many Joe Dirts as there could be Seth Cohens , if you get what I mean.
So don’t be surprised that McCain is still in it. After all, they can’t understand our fascination with sodomy either.
Posts
