Re: RC: Why you shouldn't be afraid of Egypt soapbox

[owens <owensall@sierratel.com>]

Dear Lynette, Maryanne et al.;
I don't take offense at Maryanne's post. I didn't take it as sterotyping
the US.   I think it is interesting how things are different all over
the world.  I'm lucky enuf to live in a small town environment, too.
BTW, the press loves to exagerate.  They would have nothing to report if
they only told the whole truth and the whole story.  They can do lots of
damage.  A long time ago I lived in Santa Cruz.  Every several years
schools of small fish, anchovies or something, would swim en masse up
into the harbor and die.  It smelled like dead fish for a week or so,
then went away.  The media reported this event(must have been a slow
news time), and kept on about it. People thought the whole town stunk to
high heaven and stayed away. Quietest summer I ever remember!  Finally,
a man who owned a large restaurant right on the wharf called in the
television cameras and showed the folks dining on the patio, interviewed
them, and proved the smell was gone, it was safe to return.   The whole
town suffered a huge loss in revenue that summer...difficult when a town
relies on its seasonal tourist business to sustain itself year round.
Katee
> 
> It goes both ways. You made it sound as if the US was a scary
> and
> terrible place to live. Well there are places in the US that are
> just as safe as where you live. We live in rural northern ND,
> and
> are lives are not any different then yours. Except we may get a
> little
> cooler then you. ;-) So don't stereotype the US because of the
> rate
> of crime within some of the major cities.
> 
> Lynette
> 
> Maryanne Stroud Gabbani wrote:
> >
> > Apologies for the post about safety in the Middle East yesterday. I realise
> > it's not really endurance related unless you want to come here to ride or
> > buy horses or something. <G>  But I've lived in my adopted country for over
> > 12 years now and I do go bonkers when I see the damage that the press does
> > to people's understanding of life outside of North America. I grew up in the
> > US, and always accepted the conventional wisdom of the "free press" etc.,
> > but after living outside the US for about 25 years I see that it is also
> > free to perpetuate a lot of circulation-enhancing myths, and one result is
> > that many Americans have become so fearful of foreign places.  I hate to see
> > people who love Arab horses be afraid of Arab people.
> >
> > Off the soapbox now,
> > Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
> > Cairo, Egypt
> > gabbani@starnet.com.eg
> >
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-- 
I'm not tense;  just very, very, alert.


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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
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