Thursday, June 11, 2009
A new self-explanatory sentence.
First a clarifying note on the title, because I'm getting a whole lot of links lately via the term "explanatory sentence". When Professor Polistra lists self-explanatory sentences, this is a special and distinct category that has nothing to do with the ordinary meanings of "explanatory sentence". A self-explanatory sentence sums up an entire life or worldview in a few words, usually without conscious intent. Thus the sentence is a "self-explainer".
With that out of the way, here's a new one.
Israelis are offended by a photo of Obama talking to Netanyahu on the phone. Obama has his feet up on the desk, with shoes facing the camera. In America it's a normal executive pose, with no meaning except "My feet are tired." But in the Middle East where everything and anything can start a war, it's an insult.
From the AOL article about this silly kerfuffle:
And that's the new SES. It may be a mistranslation or a misquote, but still it encapsulates the Obama administration so far.
Actually it's not all that different from the Bush foreign policy, except that Obama has smartly omitted Bush's stupid emphasis on Democracy as the key ingredient of the changed world.
Shoes or no shoes, both Israelis and Arabs have good reason to feel threatened by this constant American Utopianism-Imperialism. Changing the world is truly impossible, but we keep trying. And we keep asking the "changees" to please stand aside while we destroy our own country in a fruitless attempt to change theirs. ¶ 10:48 AM
With that out of the way, here's a new one.
Israelis are offended by a photo of Obama talking to Netanyahu on the phone. Obama has his feet up on the desk, with shoes facing the camera. In America it's a normal executive pose, with no meaning except "My feet are tired." But in the Middle East where everything and anything can start a war, it's an insult.
From the AOL article about this silly kerfuffle:
Netanyahu was told Tuesday by an "American official" in Jerusalem that, "We are going to change the world. Please, don't interfere."
And that's the new SES. It may be a mistranslation or a misquote, but still it encapsulates the Obama administration so far.
Actually it's not all that different from the Bush foreign policy, except that Obama has smartly omitted Bush's stupid emphasis on Democracy as the key ingredient of the changed world.
Shoes or no shoes, both Israelis and Arabs have good reason to feel threatened by this constant American Utopianism-Imperialism. Changing the world is truly impossible, but we keep trying. And we keep asking the "changees" to please stand aside while we destroy our own country in a fruitless attempt to change theirs. ¶ 10:48 AM
