Most people who know me at all know that I don't care for the press at large, but this particular mini-rant has to do with how they refer to people from countries in the far east. The latest example is the tragedy in San Francisco with the crash of Asiana flight 214.
While it is customary for the people who reside in those countries to refer to themselves using the last (or surname) first, when traveling abroad, they usually wish to conform to standards which apply to the rest of the world, which makes perfect sense. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
So what does the media in this country do, you got it, refer to them as if we were living in their country. I'm not sure if they do this out of respect for their ways or more likely because they wish to sound hip. I think think they just come off sounding elitest.
The modern mainstream media feels it is their job to teach we (the simplistic Americans), the ways of the world, instead of just informing us. I guess we are just too dumb to know that other cultures are different from our own.
To further confuse the issue, it depends on who you are as to what you are called. An example would be Jackie Chan. He was born Chan Kong-sang in Hong Kong but he uses the stage name of Jackie. Would it not be proper for the media to refer to his as Chan Jackie? I suppose in this case, it has something to do with asian actors wishing to fit in with american culture, but the wishes of the common people do not matter I suppose. Double standard much.
Perhaps I have the media all wrong, maybe they just want us to know that the person referred to is of asian descent when they use this naming convention. But isn't this kind of like referring to them as asian? Is that proper?
C'mon mainstream media, refer to people from places all over the world the same. I think we are smart enough to figure out why people traveling from China or Korea are not named Smith or Jones!
