The Glade 4.0

okay I just got a response back from my friend...



So I was incorrect, he did not show subservience, he just bowed a bit too far.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

And frankly, the height difference is pretty significant. I'm not surprised.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

Personally, I could care less about the bow, though the depth of his bow does look a bit over done. I understand the custom, and can appreciate the desire to act "when in Rome" with foreign dignitaries. And I am more than serious in my comment about the WH gift shop... whoever is handling that for him as finally stopped being an embarrassment.

But as a side topic, how does the recognition of custom work in situations like this?

Obviously they are also shaking hands, which has been stated as a 'westernization" of Asian greeting customs, but when looking outside of this specific venue, the tendency appears to be to adopt the customs of both culture's at such a formal level when greeting.

So, while it makes complete sense for Obama to bow when in the country of that dignitary as a respect of their culture and his status within that county, would it not be appropriate, if the venues were reversed, for the Asian ruler to bow to Obama?

Just curious.

The emperor never bows, from what I understand. Different strokes for different folks.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

But what if the custom is to bow to the President? Whose custom overrides?

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

The custom isn't to bow to the President. And I don't really know how that would play out. The custom is to stand when the president enters the room, and from what I understand, that happened. Again, proper customs were observed here. It's much ado about nothing.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

I'm curious as to why we're discussing appropriate greeting mannerisms when the question has to do with the efficacy of his visits.

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Probably because it is the most significant event of the trip.

I'd guess, Khross, it's because efficacy has been absent in the Obama World TourTM.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

A firm handshake is this countries emblem; bowing is Japan's. The emblem is not culturally recognized in America.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Because I decided to be a troll and feighn outrage over it, and get 3 pages of people ranting and carrying on about it.

Aren't you glad trolling isn't against the rules?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

A bit more on the efficacy front.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Yes, generally speaking.

Otherwise, what else would we have to talk about!?

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

WoW, apparently. After politics I'd say it's a close second.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

So sad.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

SNL skit on Obama's meeting in China, pretty funny:

http://msunderestimated.com/2009/11/21/ ... ing-video/

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

That skit was seriously hilarious.

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That was truly awesome.

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The Dude abides.

President Jintao: Will you kiss me?
Obama: What?
Jintao: Will you kiss me?
Obama: I don't understand.
Jintao: I like to be kissed when SOMEONE IS DOING SEX TO ME!

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

The bow isn't that big a deal. Everyone's smart enough to know that he's not illustrating his subservience. All it does is highlight his inexperience in foreign policy. This does not particularly concern me, as it is a small matter.

However, the tour itself seriously highlights his inexperience. WTF was the point? Did he even have an agenda? Remember, he put off making a serious decision about an ongoing war for this tour. At least accomplish something. Yeesh.

Yeah, but we have to make unimportant things huge arguments rather than focusing on underlying things that matter.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

It highlights his skill and experience, not his lack there of. I know that some people think everyone should just kiss our red white and blue *** whenever we show up at their party, but this sort of thing has long been missing from our international relations. He showed proper respect to a foreign leader in their country while visiting. This shouldn't be a controversy, it should be standard.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

Yeah, then he tells Iran to **** off politely and continues to support American hegemony. All we needed in international relations was politeness. We should have more politely invaded Iraq and humbly shot rockets from UAVs at villages in Pakistan. Then we'll repect Afghanistan by giving them 40 thousand more foreign trops on their soil.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

What experience? Really ...

You're arguing Obama has diplomatic experience and foreign policy experience based on WHAT empirical evidence? That he's been President for 9 months and **** up every measure of diplomatic and dignitary protocol possible?

The Emperor of Japan is more of a figurehead than the Queen of England, Montegue. Bow or No Bow ... the meeting is totally immaterial in the grand scheme of things. Maybe you should look at real foreign policy and geopolitical news ...

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Right, so all the other countless foreign dignitaries that don't bow to him are the inexperienced ones?