I came across some notes from my brief stay in China's capital. Enjoy.
"I am Mongolian. You take shortcut?"
"Hello. Bye-Bye Price OK? Small money OK."
"You buy Coke water or I follow you long time. All day!"
"No" (Often heard in Taxis, at shops when bargaining and when I asked if I could keep a souvenir AK-47 bullet casing at the Beijing International Shooting Range).
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Who we dislike..a study in American Diversity
So there we were...40 ish people sitting in a field in the Pisgah National Forest.
It was seminar day on an Outward Bound course and we were asked during a Diversity Workshop who we hate. Hate is a strong word. So we all wrote our favored pariahs on a slip of paper and deposited them into a grimy communal cap. The range of answers surprised me...
The Klu Klux Klan (4 votes)
City Folk (1 vote from a Missourite)
Pushy Religous Groups (Two votes, non-specific groups fingered)
Neo Nazis
Militant Palestinians (Kinda came out of left field)
Car Drivers (This one comes from a 20 year old who scorns car licensing and ownership but survives by bumming rides in said deathmobiles of friends)
War Protesters at Funerals for recent KIA soldiers
Anti-Gay Despots
Realists
Rich People (Ironic this one came up, as we had all paid about 5K for the course)
Bohemian Grove (A cult in an American suburb near you)
It was an interesting activity. Venting about who one dislikes can be therapeutic, as does painting up a Jack-o-lantern in a likeness of your mortal enemy, then sticking a Ginzu knife in the pumpkin's 'brain' with an attached post-it proclaiming "You," with a direction-bearing arrow. (There was a Jack Handy quote about this that I borrowed heavily from here).
It was seminar day on an Outward Bound course and we were asked during a Diversity Workshop who we hate. Hate is a strong word. So we all wrote our favored pariahs on a slip of paper and deposited them into a grimy communal cap. The range of answers surprised me...
The Klu Klux Klan (4 votes)
City Folk (1 vote from a Missourite)
Pushy Religous Groups (Two votes, non-specific groups fingered)
Neo Nazis
Militant Palestinians (Kinda came out of left field)
Car Drivers (This one comes from a 20 year old who scorns car licensing and ownership but survives by bumming rides in said deathmobiles of friends)
War Protesters at Funerals for recent KIA soldiers
Anti-Gay Despots
Realists
Rich People (Ironic this one came up, as we had all paid about 5K for the course)
Bohemian Grove (A cult in an American suburb near you)
It was an interesting activity. Venting about who one dislikes can be therapeutic, as does painting up a Jack-o-lantern in a likeness of your mortal enemy, then sticking a Ginzu knife in the pumpkin's 'brain' with an attached post-it proclaiming "You," with a direction-bearing arrow. (There was a Jack Handy quote about this that I borrowed heavily from here).