> on a somewhat related note, at work, my boss, who's Indian, was saying
> how
> much she liked Thomas Friedman. I kind of stepped in it when I said
> that I
> didn't like him
We had _The World Is Flat_ assigned as an optional text in a class this semester, and I've been wondering if it's going to come up in discussion. If so, I'm just going to bring out my standard example, the opening of chapter seven, wherein Friedman lands at the northwest Arkansas airport and drives in through "Dogpatch" to Wal-Mart headquarters.
I've made that drive many times, and have spent a fair amount of time in that area. What he perceives as "Dogpatch" is working farmland. Friedman's uncanny ability to fail to empathize with others and his striking inability to see plain facts makes him laughable, and there's a prime example.
I doubt that I'll get around to the subtext,
John A