I was going to write another snarky piece about a TIME online article that began with Prime Minister Abe coming back from the "Asia Pacific Forum (sic)"when I went online, but first, I opened my email and found a message from Sam Jameson that ended abruptly with the information that he had to sign off because the Prime Minister had just resigned while he – Sam, Not Mr. Abe - was writing the email. And that was it for me.
Now, I'm ready, and, whaddya know, the TIME article is no longer there.
If I hear a tree fall in the forest, but there isn't even a stump when I get there…
Actually, TIME does have a fairly good article by the same writer in the economic-recovery sub-genre with overtones from the Japan-is-funny mega-genre. As always, I have problems with the anecdote-only approach, but maybe that's just me.
2 comments:
Jun, No, its not only you who tires of the "Japan is funny mega genre". As the world shrinks, and countries need to cooperate with each other much more, I think this genre has the potential to be very damaging to initiatives by those who would seek Japan's friendship. Its also just plain parochial. T
T: I am somewhat more forgiving of the X-Is-Funny giga-genre. I believe that people from different cultures should be able laugh with each other, even when the laugh is on you. I also understand the professional need for those journalists to get their stories into print.
It's when I see hackwork that I see red. Like, shading or, as in the case of a piece on the Nishiyama affair that I wrote about on this blog, hiding and misrepresenting the facts to suit a preconceived, destructive storyline. I am also irritated when I see a story that makes interesting assertions but backs them up by nothing more that a couple of lines out of a single interview, expert or non-, and asks up to trust the reporter for the rest. Well, I don't. And we shouldn't. Remember the war in Iraq.
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