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« Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize | Morning News »

Friday, October 9, 2009

International Mythology Today: Special Edition

Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 8:25 AM

The next image from the White House's official photostream:

In this image, President Barack Obama meets with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the G-20 Summit. The image shows the president listening to the world, listening and recognizing the rest of the world. Do not underestimate the power of this image.

Americans really only hear American noise. (Even in the age of global communication, this is still the case.) The noise that happens outside of its borders is barely audible, barely there at all. What we hear most in this country, for example, is the hate that many have for the black president; what is not heard is the love that many outside of the country have for the American president. And so it is a shock to Americans (both on the left and right) to learn he has won the Nobel Peace Prize. It is shocking because we had no idea of the kind of popular noise he generates in the world outside of our own. "I can travel again and not be scared to answer when people ask me what country I'm from. Thanks to President Obama for that," wrote the American philosopher Graham Harman on Twitter. For most Americans living abroad (Harman lives in Cairo), Obama's popularity is not dimmed/distorted/diminished by the noise of brain-dead, black-shocked tea people (the base) and the GOP's high voltage propaganda machine (the superstructure).

Comments (10) RSS

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His Cairo speech was a turning point. It brought many people back to our side. It's something right wing bullies can't understand and won't even try to understand.

Posted by Vince on October 9, 2009 at 9:09 AM

I don't understand the conclusion here. We only hear American noise so we don't fully appreciate that most of the world also hears a lot of American noise?

Posted by cliche on October 9, 2009 at 9:20 AM

When I saw that picture, I thought they were in a bowling alley.

Posted by Renton Mike on October 9, 2009 at 9:29 AM

Good Morning Charles,
Indeed, Charles, I am in shock over Obama receiving the award.

This is NOT deserved. The Nobel Committee is completely incompetent. This is unfair to Obama. He’s only been in office 9 months! This is NOT Obama’s doing. It is utter foolishness & short sightedness on the part of the committee. There is unequivocally a “Cult” of Obama. The award is entirely political. It is only meant as a rebuke of Bush.

Consider this,“Should ________.” Well, fill in the blank yourself. I can’t believe the idiocy of this decision. The sheer audacity (yes “audacity”) is mindboggling. For Mr. Obama, it is politically fraught with peril.

The committee has now cut his Presidency no slack whatsoever.

Posted by lark on October 9, 2009 at 9:40 AM

@3 Glad I'm not the only one.

Posted by topher on October 9, 2009 at 9:55 AM

Great post. Dead on.

If you talk to any Norwegians today, ask them why they think Obama got the Nobel Prize. Many will say that the prize was really for the American voters for electing someone so different from George Bush, and many will say that it has to do with overcoming the history of slavery to elect a black president, in addition to the obvious points that Obama has changed the tone and discourse internationally (a tone that most Americans have no idea about). Obama to the world is so much more than we Americans can readily see, yet. We should look at the greater context to *understand* why he was awarded. I think it was a bold choice, but in an inappropriate one.

Posted by Simac on October 9, 2009 at 10:11 AM

I also like how the President is keeping his hands to himself, not copping an surprise feel on the German chancellor or any of that monkey business we had so much of with the last guy.

Posted by elenchos on October 9, 2009 at 12:00 PM

AMEN, CHARLES! You are absolutely right. Most Americans are sadly *totally ignorant* about the rest of the world. Foreigners visiting the United States ALL secretly say the same thing about us: how shocked they are about how little we know about anything outside our own borders.

Excellent post.

Posted by Confluence on October 9, 2009 at 12:50 PM

@8, c'mon now, that's really not fair. We don't know much about a lot of things inside our borders, too.

Posted by CP on October 9, 2009 at 4:41 PM

darn I look good

Posted by Barack Obama on October 12, 2009 at 7:57 AM