A Real American from Real America

First Opening of the Daily Show Post 9/11

I haven't really written a lot lately because, well, I don't really feel like right now is time for a lot of frivolous stuff. I'm naturally worried about people at home in the states, and members of my family.

I also am trying really hard to keep my mouth shut about politics out of deference to the people I love.

But something is really grating on me.

The past few days a bunch of articles have come out about the Millennial Generation, and they're not very flattering.

"Sources describe millennials as self-centered, needy and ill-equipped to handle failure and disappointment. And if handling those personalities weren't headache-inducing enough, [this article suggests], companies must also deal with the parents that instilled those attitudes with incessant coddling."

We have an entitlement problem. We expect too much too soon. But hey, it's really our parent's fault - they started it. They coddled us, told us we were awesome from birth.

I've addressed this before.

And, apparently, some parents are flat out crazy: "[some] will badger employers as easily as teachers. One General Electric Co. recruiting manager [said] that parents have called him trying to negotiate fatter paychecks for their children. A Conference Board official told of a worker who at first refused to travel to a business meeting because the worker's mother had deemed the trip unnecessary."



The fact that we refuse to give up our lives in "loyalty" to the cause of a corporation who we know will absolutely have no loyalty to us is considered abhorrent...

oh, and the fact that we consider pantyhose anachronistic...

and it's considered immature that we want flex hours even though we know that we work better from 10 - 7...

these are big big problems for corporations and recruiters.

Have they ever read about the productivity of Google? Does the fact that they have shares going for like, $500 give them one inkling of a clue?


You know what, I was told I was special and smart, and when I screwed up on something, I was told I could do better or I was yelled at to do better. But my parents sure as hell never called my work to try to negotiate a deal for me.

And you know what? They can bitch about our self-confidence, but it's because of this confidence that I've been so successful. All things considered, I've produced and done some pretty fantastic things, and I'm not embarrassed to say that, nor do I think I'm being overly congratulatory to myself. Google me.

Really, do they really want to bitch about a generation of kids that were "groomed" to rise the ladder when a full 1/3rd of our country's youth is no longer graduating high school? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. They should be kissing our needy asses, and recognize that what we're trying to do is create healthier, holistic lifestyles. This is not a crime, and is indeed something that should be celebrated. The fact is if they work with us, they'll get the loyalty that they want.

I also think it's pretty rich that the generation that raised us, the Boomer Generation, is calling us the generation with too large a sense of entitlement when a) they're our bosses and, to repeat, they raised us and b) are they not considered to be the most entitled generation to have *ever* occupied this country? Do we need to review the holy shitstorm of economic crisis we're in now? The one that they're leaving us, the Millennials, to deal with?


I'm extraordinarily grateful that I have a family that I know I can fall back on. I'm not going to lie that I know this is there, and that some of my decisions have been made with this knowledge in the back of my mind. But this knowledge made me exquisitely conscience of all the people that don't have this luxury, which is an unacceptable amount of Americans. Maybe if some of the corporations complaining paid one red cent of taxes we could have some modicum of an education system in this country, and they could then have a broader pool of people to chose from to hire. Greed sure bites you in the ass, don't it?

French First Lady and the winner of the French "American Idol" singing the Juno Song.

tee hee

I'm not meaning to hate on her, but this is just damn funny.

She's an Astronaut

Thanks Pan

Houston, We Have a Problem & (How Peace Corps Volunteers' make for the best American Propoganda)

Looking Back to Georgia


I don't know how many people heard that on Friday last week a car bomb went off in South Ossetia, killing three civilians and eight Russian soldiers, including a senior officer.

The U.S. is understandably concerned about other things right now.

Here's why I think it's important: any flair up that occurs in any corner of the world (and Pakistan and Afghanistan are powderkegs at the moment as well - Pakistani troops firing on American planes? Holy Crap!) could radically change the outcome of the election.

After I wrote my original post on the Georgia/Russia conflict, I had some interesting discussions with a few of you. Some folks thought that I was misinformed, getting spun information - that Russia was the provocateur, Georgia this haven of democracy.

Colin Powell agrees with me: Georgia started it. And Human Rights Watch agrees with me as well: Georgia's democratic freedoms have been slipping away with the Saakashvili administration.

With this most recent attack, Georgia is accusing Russia of engineering the whole thing so that they would have an excuse not to withdraw. Russia blames the Georgian secret police.

I'm not going to speculate on who's to blame; I don't think you could call either administration all that trustworthy.

But it's not exactly a good "sitch," as the kids say, for people in countries with disputed territories supported by Russia.

Like Moldova.


And I'll tell you something that makes this a whole lot worse...

All CIS countries (former soviet states, still strongly linked to Russia) are pumped full of Russian TV, and Russian "news."

Recently, there was a show on here that was showing pictures of President Bush, juxtaposed with Hitler. This was a propaganda piece being passed off as news, saying WE provoked the Ossetian conflict, saying that WE caused the death of all the Ossetians, saying that WE got Saakashvili elected, and that as a country our leaders were just as bad as a man who started WWII and introduced the world to mechanized mass murder.

Pretty crazy.



The Peace Corps and the Propoganda Machine


So the second goal of Peace Corps is to "Help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served."

We're supposed to be mini-Ambassadors - in a way more true ambassadors, of America than any foreign service worker, because we don't live in a gated community on embassy row. The whole structure of PC is based upon living in the communities we're placed with, on becoming part of the community, on gaining trust and acceptance. Learning the native language, eating the local food....

PCVolunteer's - those that actually stick to their committment and stay the full 27 months are strongly respected for the work they do - even if they don't end up getting much done. Because people here are used to broken promises, and shocked that someone would stick around... with them... for two years.

Because I work for an umbrella organization, I've visited villages who have had volunteers in the past, and those that have had good experiences cannot talk enough about "their" American, and everything "their" American did and oh, do I know "their" American?

But those that didn't have a good experience give off a vastly different vibe. It's "that" American didn't learn the language. "That" American left after a month. "That" American never came out of his room.

I think a PCV who leaves a small village for no good reason probably does more to hurt the reputation of America than the propoganda machine of Russia does.

Dramatic? Yes. But people know that Russia exagerates and has an agenda. These face to face contacts with the "Corpul Pacii Voluntarii Americii" leaves a much greater impression on the general populace.

President Bush said (before he, you know, cut the funding of the program :P )

"Peace Corps volunteers don't carry our culture; they carry universal values and principles that are so incredibly important for all mankind."

Next time anybody dares to call me a hippy, I'm so gonna say that George W Bush called me an exporter of universal values necessary for the good of mankind...

But 150 people combatting the Russian spin and propoganda that reaches into probably 95% of Moldovan homes? That's a challenge. In total around the world, there's only about 8,000 PCVs.

Not exactly a large number to be, you know, carrying these universal American values and principles around the world.

I'm not saying. I'm just saying.

There's a reason I love this neighborhood In D.C..... (Attila, this is for you)

When Monsters Attack (or die and wash ashore)

For some reason there seems to be a host of monster sightings this year... from Montauk to Martha's Vineyard... and now Russia.

From Gawker.com:

In an effort to ramp up competition with the United States, Russia has produced its own version of the feared and revered Montauk Monster. It's the Moscow Monster! Its carcass washed ashore on the Eastern coast of the Motherland, indicating that Sarah Palin likely shot it from hundreds of yards away in Alaska, while nestled in her rooftop hunting blind. Russian scientists have yet to identify the creature. Note that it is a more hideous and distorted version of the kinder, gentler American original....

Happy (slightly belated) Anniversary, Obamas

I just really like the way he looks at her. It reminds me of the way my dad looks at my mom.

I can't see him ever calling Michelle a c*nt or trying to sign her up for a wet t-shirt contest.

thoughts on the Corps Experience

Below is from an article written by a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer named Rude that I can't publish in it's entirety, because I would probably get in trouble. But these two paragraphs I thought were pretty intense.



"We made a difference!"

No single Peace Corps experience can be generalized to all volunteers, countries or eras touched by the Peace Corps. Nevertheless, there are common themes that have made the Peace Corps a unique and enduring organization. One theme borne out by historical experience is that the problems addressed by volunteer efforts have been immense – in fact, far beyond their capacity to solve, in nearly every case. This discovery alone has been worth the venture.

The facile, oft-used phrase, “We made a difference!” is a frank admission that making a dent was all that volunteers had a right to expect. Hunger, poverty and disease have grown immeasurably worse over the past 40 years. Peace Corps volunteers have witnessed these tragedies, but for all their passionate caring, they have done little to avert them. Because they were sent as emissaries from the world’s wealthiest nation, a nation perceived as having the capacity (but not the will) to alleviate global suffering, Peace Corps volunteers were viewed as complicit in the very problems they tried to solve.

Volunteers found themselves in circumstances similar to the “innocent” German citizens of Dachau. At the end of the Second World War, as the people of Dachau were required to visit the death camp on the edge of town, they could no longer cry innocence to God or their neighbors. Figuratively, Peace Corps volunteers have also smelled the stench from the ovens. Figuratively, the ashes of AIDS, ignorance, oppression and starvation have been scattered all over their immaculate clothing after they returned from overseas.


Rian----> When I was applying for Peace Corps, I was asked if there was anywhere I wouldn't want to go, and I said that I couldn't go to Africa. I couldn't go because I was afraid that such an experience was something I couldn't come back from - that I would never be able to live with the guilt if I happened to see things that were too vivid.

The rate for suicide for photojournalists who cover Africa is astronomical. I think it's easy to imagine why - having to see tragedy and chaos and be powerless to do anything about it could easily lead to despair. I wonder if there is a comparable statistic with returning Peace Corps volunteers from Africa. Somehow, I don't think I'll be able to get my hands on such statistic.

Mai departe.


The Common Humanity that volunteers discovered

A second, even more powerful discovery of Peace Corps volunteers has been the surging river of common humanity that volunteers, as Americans, could scarcely be aware existed, until they were immersed in it. American popular culture has tried to tap and exploit this yearning, but those who have lived in the so-called developing world know that Hollywood and the media are missing the story of global suffering—as well as global resilience.

What Peace Corps volunteers understand – because they have lived in the places where one third of humanity tries to survive on $2-a-day or $1-a-day – is that laughter, late-night conversations in dimly-lit courtyards, wailing chants at weddings and funerals, and tears of loss, shared with friends who happen to be from different cultures – these humble experiences define humanity for all of us. (emphasis added) This has been a life lesson granted to few Americans, seldom even to the best-educated Americans: that what binds people together as human beings is far more important than what tears them apart. Most volunteers, even those who revert to the middle-class attractions of consumerism, understand that ultimately these attractions are illusory. Love, suffering and courage are not exclusive traits of any society or culture -- they transcend our material world, and bind together the lives of rich and poor alike.

These discoveries–that they were witnesses, more than saviors, and that they shared their humanity with their hosts–is what gave legitimacy to the word “Peace” in the title of the Peace Corps. Who can deny that the agonies of Israel and Palestine, or of India and Pakistan, are based on arbitrary and artificial enmities? Over and over, Americans (watching on TV) hear the pleas of ordinary people whose societies are shattered by war and terrorism. “We just want to live in peace!” they say. And how, exactly, is peace to be defined? As Peace Corps volunteers have lived it, in their daily struggles among people who, with all their differences, are amazingly like themselves.


Rian ----> These are not shocking new principles to me, nor did it take me becoming a Peace Corps member to discover them, nor do I think they're unusual ideas for many people reading this. But I have smart friends. And I think maybe I had a head start thinking about these things anyway.

These are principles that should be, I don't know, common, understood. And I don't think that for many people they are. Not in America, not in Moldova, not anywhere.

There's a word that this article never uses, and it's emphathy. I think that PC does teach people to be very empathetic. And that can never be a bad thing.

The Peace Corps' Secret

originally published in The Washington Post on March 17, 1999 by Michael Kelly (the first American Journalist Killed in Iraq).


The Peace Corps is modest; the legislation establishing the agency required it to perform only three tasks: "to help the peoples" of host countries, "to help promote a better understanding on the part of the peoples served, and a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people." Done, almost by definition.

The Peace Corps is, on America's behalf, self-interested. In his 1960 Cow Palace speech proposing the Corps, John F. Kennedy made repeatedly clear that the primary strategic function of Corps volunteers was not to altruistically help the world's suffering poor but to serve as anti-Soviet propagandists by deed for the American way.

The Peace Corps is, on its own behalf, not self-interested, at least by bureaucratic standards. Its charter forbids its officials to serve more than five years, which forces the agency to remain young and active, and discourages careerists. This structurally enforced ethos attracts thousands of people each year to volunteer for two years of hard, dangerous work (220 volunteers have died in service).

The Peace Corps is subversive. It attracts idealists and free spirits, and it does not tell them that they are to advance American foreign policy. But they are, and they do, because they think they are not so doing. "Of course 90 percent of Peace Corps alumni will assure you that they were never, ever an arm of American foreign policy," says Carroll. "Which simply proves that the whole thing works: It is an arm of American foreign policy precisely in as much as it is not an arm of American foreign policy."

A creation of government that actually understands and exploits human nature. What an idea.