The colour of honour

Why do Bush-boosting, pro-war Americans especially seem to find it impossible to imagine walking in another’s shoes?  Via Jim Henley and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, you’ll recognize the typically American Bushie right-winger attitude in the following Al Jazeera post:

The following exchange took place in between an Anonymous poster and myself in the comments section of this blog:

Anonymous:

Though you broadcast these screeds in detail because it is "news" that you have a "duty" to report, when I search the Al Jazeera site for the phrase "honor killings" I get nada. Not a single hit. Don’t you think that the murder of women throughout the Islamic world by their uncles and fathers and husbands because these women have the audacity to date who they want or express what they think is newsworthy?

Me:

You make mention that our website does not mention "Honor Killings" – that is true since we don’t use American English – we use English English.

Try your search using "honour" instead – or just click here  for Google results.

You see, sometimes little cultural misunderstands can cause such a big fuss.

Let’s keep talking. Enjoy the weekend..!

By Mohammed posting on the Al Jazeera staff’s weblog, Don’t Bomb Us

"Let’s keep talking," Mohammed says.  But Mohammed’s cheerful optimism causes me to cynically recall this line from an old song:

All lies and jest, still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.