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Many of you know I’ve lived outside the United States since late 2001.  If I were trying to seem poetic or sentimental I would mention that it was 2 months after 9/11.  Or I would bring up the extreme difficulty and hostility I experienced trying to do research as a freelance journalist into the disappearing immigrants of Arab descent.  But thats not really it either, the reasons I left are more complex and less dramatic.

Still throughout the last 7 years I’ve often wondered if a change of president would make it more appealing to live once again in the US.  But I can also tell you that one thing I’ve figured out for myself is that the president is not what is wrong with the United States.  No the problems go beyond the white house and beyond politics.  So a change of president does not equal a change in culture… things don’t happen that quickly or easily.

Speaking with one of my most valued friends back in NJ today, he said to me “Obama mania is sweeping the nation man… its going to be great.”  To which I responded “Just because there is Obama mania does not mean things will be great.” Which is the response I feel I need to give more and more these days.

Like his profile? Sure why not. Plenty to like about that life and family history.  Like his speaking style? Most of the time, although if we’re honest with ourselves we know that 75% of the time he’s not really saying anything, just using the talking points and the slogans like advisors tell him to.  Like his politics? Im not sure about that anymore either. From Free Trade, to Middle East policies, to Criminal Justice, Barak Obama says less and less that I can actually agree with or that differs with the same old populist politics of the last decades.

Obama mania is sweeping the nation.  It starts to sound like any one progressively minded should lay down their arms and embrace the man in the name of getting him elected.  Yet I propose.. hell.. I demand something else.  I demand that you hammer this candidate with questions. That you scrutinize his proposed policies, his staff choices, his voting record, and the details of the lofty promises or the shady relationships with questionable forces. Don’t jump on the bandwagon, stand up and ask your candidate to explain himself.  Run him through the ringer, before its too late, and we end up with a man that owes favors to the same old powerful interests and politics we never actually wanted.

On June 28th 1969 NYC police raided the Stonewall Inn. That night police arrested and beat numerous people, especially transgendered and gender non-conformist people.  Outraged and tired of the oppression, people from the community gathered outside the Inn while the people inside tried to barricade themselves, and eventually a fire broke out.

But that’s just my summary of an event I wasn’t alive to experience. With this post I encourage you to reflect on, remember, or perhaps learn about the Stonewall Riots, if you haven’t already.  Naturally I also wish to show my solidarity with LGBT friends throughout the world, who to this day have still not had many of their rights recognized and respected, as humans and citizens.  The struggle continues and I hope very much that like those brave people at Stonewall, and well before Stonewall and long after, I too can help advance the cause of equality and justice, regardless of sexual orientation or gender.

This is pride month and I realize I’m yet to do anything related to LGBT rights and focus on related situations worldwide.  Actually I’m surprised to not yet have heard reports of violent and disgusting attacks on participants at Gay Pride festivals throughout Eastern Europe. Seems as though every year I’ll catch images of Moscow police beating gay citizens for carrying signs or participating in nonviolent demonstrations. Or I’ll read the reports from Romania of marchers being beaten, or the banning of pride celebrations in Poland.  No, this year I haven’t been talking about the issue all that much, but the month isn’t over yet - so I will.

But to perhaps begin to talk about some of the pride events taking place in the world, and yes, to have a laugh as well, I wanted to recommend the great and potentially insane Tim Can’t Reid’s latest video entry where he recounts his experience at Gay Pride in Spokane, Washington.  I’ve never been to Tim’s corner of the US, but it is almost like being there just by listening to Tim and watching the images.

While many officials might be congratulating themselves for having handled the spread of HIV-AIDS in Thailand, an under reported resurgence is taking place.  My guest for this podcast, part of my series on Thailand and Cambodia, is Mai of Teen Path Thailand.  Together we talk about the situation for teenagers when it comes to sex education, AIDS awareness, and the pitfalls in how Thai society communicates with young people. Mai also explains the different avenues Path takes in order to reach teenagers around the country, using methods and tools that most relate to their lives.

Path’s Website (international)

Teen Path Thailand’s Website (in Thai)

Music:

• Erykah Badu - The Cell
• Panic at the Disco - Northern Downpour

 Standard Podcast [29:14m]: Play Now | Download

I’ll start the week by pointing you to a very excellent edition of On the Media, one of my absolute required-listening podcasts each week - Journalism with Chinese Characteristics. And the subtext of the post reads as follows:

There is real investigative reporting in China, it’s just not done under a free press flag. Instead, practitioners mind an unstated set of rules, keeping themselves safe by employing tactics like using excessive jargon and exploiting government rivalries…

The program itself doesn’t present particularly new facts or opinions about China.  If anything, in the last few years, there is no shortage of Chinese voices in international media talking about how China isn’t what you might remember from the movies or old stereotypes. That the country is modernizing fast and people have alot of new freedoms that are comparable to whatever you have in the west.  That said, OTM provides a nice group of voices who communicate their experiences and opinions in a manner worthy of listening to.

What gets me about the interviewees in this podcast is that they come back to the classic China-US comparison talking point: The freedom criticism.  So they point out how strange it is that there are “free Tibet” protests on the streets of the US, and yet the US occupies Iraq and has guantanamo bay.  To which there are no protests on the streets of China saying “Free Iraq.”  The arguement brushes over the well known hypocracy and goes right for some kind of lack of reciprocity.

My response would simply be as follows, once and for all let it be said, that it is our right and responsibility as human beings on this earth, to protest and engage in some form of acknowledgement whenever and wherever human lives are being destroyed and opressed.  Moreover, that you might be American and on the streets protesting what takes place in Tibet, does not mean you automatically believe your own government is doing just fine and you support the occupation of Iraq.  Hell, you probably attend those demonstrations as well.  But protesting human rights violations in another country does not require that you live in a country where human rights are perfectly respected and it shouldn’t result in silencing dissent anywhere in the world.

Just because you have the capacity to repeat all the terrible mistakes and crimes of the western world, dear China, does not mean you should.

Lots of you will remember the documentary film “Supersize Me” directed by Morgan Spurlock.  After seeing that film all those years ago, I became an admirer of Spurlock’s work and a frequent reader of his defunct blog. Some years after Supersize Me, he started production on the show “30 Days” which aired on the FX cable network in the US. Though I wasn’t around to watch it on TV at that time, I remember reading Morgan’s recounting of how production was going and of course, through the magic of the internet, I was able to get my hands on the entire first season.

The show itself is about spending 30 days in someone else’s shoes.  Someone else- usually meaning someone who lives differently or opposite what one person might see as normal or correct.  Or just different somehow.  The higher message in this show seems to have always been to make you see things differently, and understand some of the often misunderstood lifestyles and life circumstances.

Now in its third season, the most recent episode dealt with an avid hunter and meat eater, living 30 days with a Vegan family working as an animal rights activist.

Initially it may seem like this isn’t going to be worth anything or even interesting.  The gentleman is very polite and very candid about his opinions about animals and activists, and seems like the month will be nothing but disagreements and unspoken hatred.  As an audience member it probably all seems a bit forced, cause of course - it is for television.

But the animal rights episode has some very interesting moments, no matter how made for TV it may have been.  Example, riding along with an animal rescuer, who patrols factory farms for sick and abused animals, taking them to a rescue farm where animals are rehabilitated and allowed to live without abuse.  The video footage captured just from outside the fences of factory farms in California was nothing short of shocking, even if you think you have seen animals in some gross situations.  It was also interesting to hear the debates between the family and the gentleman, about diet, about the place of animals on earth and in our lives.  It wasn’t that he was proven wrong or that he was totally converted, what got me was how this man was able to have discussions and both make points and aknowledge points he had not fully considered previously.

I highly recommend 30 days. Not every episode or situation is golden, but when it is good.. it is great.  The kind of programming we should show our high school and grammer school students, to stimulate a more developed understanding and questioning of what is presented to us as reality.

If you use bittorent at all, here’s a link to the Torrent for the latest episode of 30 days.