One of the best outcomes of a global communications infrastructure is the increase in perspective it can bring. This morning I read the NYT column from David Brooks. My point of view was....meh. Waste of ink and he should write the NYT a check for his travel and accommodations. Then I read James Fallows reaction via his blog, where he said:
This is the kind of thing you can say only if you have not the slightest inkling of how completely different a billion-plus people can be from one another. Beijingers from Shanghainese, Guangdong entrepreneurs from farmers in Sichuan, Tibetans from Taiwanese, people who remember the Cultural Revolution from those who don't, people who remember the famines of the Great Leap Forward from people who've always had enough. The guy across the street from his brother. His daughter from his wife. People hanging on in big state enterprises from those starting small firms. People who stayed in the villages from those who came to the city for jobs. Christians from Buddhists. Hu Jintao from Jiang Zemin, Olympic weightlifters from Olympic tennis players, Yao Ming from Liu Xiang, Wen Jiabao from Edison Chen -- and while we're at it, Filipinos from Koreans, Japanese from Chinese, Malaysian Chinese from Malaysian Malays. Lee Kuan Yew from Kim Jong Il. People from Jakarta from people in Seoul. Hey, they're all "Asians".
it is totally true that the world is getting smaller, helped in large part by the ease of communications and the ability to absorb perspectives directly. What I love is watching the flow of communications from one place to the next, with context and new thinking added as it moves along. So, David Brooks, thanks for providing the small irritant of a column to which James Fallows built a pearl around.