July 10, 2008
Guest post ~ Spinning in China and anti-cnn.com
I teach in China, where there are few alternative views to government propaganda. As blatant as it is, most people here actually are not aware that they are receiving propaganda.
After the events in Tibet in March, the overwhelming majority of students told me and wrote in the journals that CNN is so biased against China. When I asked them if they had read the original articles or seen the CNN newscasts on TV, not a single one had.
They had gone to a website, anti-cnn.com, whose author remains anonymous and whose purpose is unknown.
However, the government had picked up on the story. It makes a convenient way to shut down alternative viewpoints in the run-up to the Olympics or at least get the people to discount them.
I may not get anyone to change their viewpoints by suggesting they read the sources, but I do what I can.
Please keep this anonymous – it’s not safe for me to post my name.
June 9, 2008Guest post ~ another unlikely alliance
Thanks to Wendy Mack for this beautiful example of how seeming enemies can Unite and Concur.
In April my husband and I attended the Rocky Mountain Plover Festival in Karval Colorado. Getting to see Burrowing Owls, Horned Larks, and Snowy Plovers was incredible, but the real highlight of the weekend was witnessing a unique human interaction.
The Plover Festival is a result of a partnership between the ranchers of Karval, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. That may not seem unusual until you realize that in most parts of Colorado (and the country) environmentalists and government employees are not welcome on a rancher’s land. In fact, one rancher from Karval said that 6 years ago he would have been quick to “show off” his gun and “run government intruders” off his land. Just a few years later this same rancher happily drove a truck hauling a trailer seating dozens of birders and wildlife officials all over his ranch. To top it all off, the ranchers (Karl, Jeff, and Russ) joked and laughed with Ken (CDW) and Seth (RMNBO) as if they were brothers!
Instead of focusing on the birds, I spent a lot of time asking our hosts about how this partnership had evolved and observing their interactions. Here are some highlights from what I learned:
COLLABORATION. The ranchers and birders kept talking about how much they had learned, and were continuing to learn from one another. This was not a one-sided situation where the government set out to change the ranchers. It was about figuring out how to work together to save ranches and birds.
RESPECT. The ranchers had made the biggest change in their thinking, yet Ken never let them put themselves down or say they had been wrong before. He constantly talked about how important the ranchers are and how much they were advancing the protection of the birds.
PATIENCE. The government team first approached the ranchers about conducing studies on their land more than 6 years ago. The first Plover Festival was held last year. It took five years, a lot of data collection, a lot education, and a lot of conversations to get here.
All in all, it was a beautiful weekend – in more ways than one.
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Related posts which may interest you
- Guest post ~ Spinning in China and anti-cnn.com
- A better way ~ a two year old learns to sift through spin
- Communication standards ~ Political bullying…in kindergarden?
- Across party lines ~ Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson Unite and Concur on Climate Change
- What’s wrong with this picture? ~ Most of this email has been verified by Snopes.com
Guest post ~ here to serve…a growing sense of order
This post is from Michael Mendenall, who is one of those people you’ve heard about who decided to get involved in politics this year for the first time. This post shows how his involvement made an immediate difference.
So I decided that this was the year that I would set aside my cynicism and get involved with the barely contained chaos of my chosen political parties caucuses…showed my hand there, but that’s all right…got elected as a delegate to the county convention for my candidate, and attended, excited for the experience.
The day started early, 7:00 am, and throughout showed no promise of ending in the same way. The procedure is to wait to do the actual voting for state convention delegates at the very end…and it is now twelve and a half hours into it, I’m tired, and the prospective delegates are bickering hotly as to how to proceed with the vote. So many folks are interested in becoming a state delegate that to actually vote on them would have taken untold hours, so it was eventually decided to simply pull names out of a hat, which brought more heated debate and derision.
I am beginning to question my commitment to the process…I have a diabetic cat to take care of, and am getting pretty low on the blood sugar myself, and I need to get out of there! Well, as it went, my name was the second one drawn from said magic hat, and amidst the shouted arguments, I stood up and called for attention…only to be shouted down.
But I am contrary, to say the least, and I was going to have my say.
- Excuse me, but I am obviously not as emotionally invested in this as it appears that many of you are.
(Here the clamor began to die down a bit, so I continued)
- I am here simply to be of service to my community, my party, my candidate, and my country…so I ask that my name be placed into the mix as an alternate to give another one of you a better chance of attending the (state) convention.”
And I sat down…to quiet and a growing sense of order.
One woman who was one of the most vocal of the dissenters, turned to me…”Hey, you’re a nice guy!” And was quiet from there on out…and I got home in time to give my cat his insulin shot and got to attend the State Convention as a delegate, anyway…all for speaking strong. Thanks, Meryl.
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