That’s not an assumption I’d make at all. It’s the sort of opinion that may be comforting, but it’s not as if someone can’t have strong beliefs and seek some sort of advantage at the same time. (Certainly, day to day there are a lot of people who combine beliefs with doing things to the own advantage.

@Digital Coyote:

Unless the viewpoint started at around the time of the beauty thing, that seems a pretty wild assumption to make. (since it seems more of a celebrity gossip type of explanation that often appears here, where someone’s opinion has to be from something they’ve lost or failed at, as opposed to picking up some opinion or action from somewhere else.

I never knew who Glen Beck was before Mr. Obama became President. He seems to have used fear and hate as a spring board to fame.

There should also be no question that the US is among the world’s top exporters of racist claptrap (e.g., this poster). First they took away the factories, now this has to go, too?

He now has a name, a will of his own and a moral compass. Although he still fits the “magical negro” trope, he’s much, much more human and much more interesting.

And… my own sexual orientation aside (I’m a happily married straight man), Jimmy Jean-Louis is a very beautiful man.

I disagree. The reporter set this up as if it were to be a global story, then focused in on Indonesia. If one wants to do a story about Indonesia, that’s fine – but it looked like the story was going to be farther reaching than it was. No, that could be the whims of an editor, but there is no harm in asking for specifics.

No, news stories can’t capture the full picture of everything, but I think holding journalism to a lower standard ultimately does more harm than good. I know, just like you know, that most journalists are humans with lives and deadlines that loom regardless of how deeply one may want to dive into a story.

But I also think that even if we cannot meet these lofty ideals that we set for ourselves, that they need to stay high. Asking for specificity and the voices of women to be included in an article about their lives doesn’t strike me as overreaching.

You have a window into my mind, right? Go on. Admit it. There is no other explanation for you writing exactly what I was thinking.

Mark is unsympathetic to everyone. There is real warmth among his colleagues so why do they have to put up with this cold fish? He’s rash, immature, selfish, sulky and a downright bore. Why can’t he be the victim of a random act of violence. Ok maybe not so random because I volunteer to pull the trigger.

Why can’t Demetri be the lead? And we need to see more of Janis. I like her. Stan isn’t getting enough screen time IMO. He showed a different side of himself in that ep where he visited the Prez’s former mistress and then blackmailed the Prez. I like that he can be ruthless when he feels its required. Mark doesn’t deserve a boss like that.

Oh and did I mention that Mark should die?

As for Al’s suicide…I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I had an emotional investment in the character and liked learning more about him in each episode. Also, he was hot. Damn hot. On the other hand, his suicide served as a powerful symbol to others that they were not slaves to their Flash Forwards. Still, I’ll miss him.

It is a story about women who get raped while overseas and then feel that for a range of reasons they cannot raise their children. I don’t get a tsk tsk vibe at all, and I don’t really see why that’s a bad subject for a story. Look at the list of consequences of rape that are given: ostracisation, abandonment, deportation. I get a “this is so awful I don’t know what to say” vibe.

It’s clearly not meant to be a wide ranging piece. It notes that there are 100 million migrant workers around the world, and that this is the result of globalisation, but the story focuses on Indonesians. I think expecting every story on migrant workers to discuss the plight of every group around the world is a bit much. And next to it is a link to a more general story about migrant workers elsewhere (”Migrant Workers: A Hard Life Gets Harder”). I understand your concern that it might again smack of connecting rape with the Mid East, but what would you prefer the Time correspondent in Jakarta to write about? He’s going to write about Indonesian experiences. And not every news story can be a few thousand words long (I would like to see better use of hyperlinks in stories for this reason, actually – this one should contain links to a range of background stories).

I do find it a little surprising that the story does not quote any migrant workers themselves, although I know from experience that it can be hard to get them to talk on the record, due to fears about retribution, be it from family, immigration agents, or that it may cause them problems should they want to go overseas again. Never mind that these women have been through traumatising experiences and may not want to live them again. Or that the sight of a white journalist might not be particularly comforting.

My main problem with this piece is actually the complete lack of a discussion about the fate of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, which seems an odd ommission given that it’s almost constantly in the news. The Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur has a dormitory out the back to house migrant workers who are in legal disputes with their employers (I almost typed “owners” there, since that’s really how they’re treated) over abuse.

It is certainly not overstating the abuse suffered by Indonesian workers in Saudi and elsewhere. This is a story my old editor filed a few years ago; the situation has not changed: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2006/05/10/coming-home-dark-039trade039-flight-qr-626.html
In general, the Post and the Jakarta Globe focus heavily on the experiences of migrant workers.

If you’re interested in Southeast Asian NGOs that specifically focus on migrant workers, there’s Migrant Care (www.migrantcare.net website is in Bahasa Indonesia but sometimes they put out statements in English), the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (http://www.apmigrants.org/) and the Migrant Forum in Asia (http://www.mfasia.org/).

And there’s also a fantastic book called Maid in Hong Kong, about the experiences of migrant workers there (including industrial action and their struggle for better pay and living standards) by Nicole Constable. It’s mainly about Philippina workers, but there is some focus on Indonesians.

Further, the only extremism that gets on nationwide corporate media is right-wing extremism. When was the last time you heard John Stewart or Rachel Maddow advocating for the nationalization of the internet, or the abolition of private property, or a 100% estate tax. Those are the more radical ideas you’ll find on the left, but you never get those.

Did it never occur that we buy low-cut tops because WE like what we see? Since when does some stranger come into the equation? When we dress, we dress for ourselves primarily, and our SO’s, jobs, secondarily. Mr. “Smile, Princess” on the street is not even remotely on our minds. So why would you assume that when I bought those skinny jeans, I bought them so you, random person on the corner who I don’t even know, could tell me about myself in them?

Really though? Sir, you are bugging.

Mind you, this belief was around alive and well pre-9/11 as well. Anyone who grew up in the US and Canada in the 80’s, post Iranian revolution, will remember the demonization of Muslims as violent well before September 11th, 2001.

But still, people like Palin and Beck definitely are planting seeds of worry in many of us. Between Beck’s penchant for hate speech and Palin’s sheer incompetence, the potential damage is untold…