There is a video embed of the commercial at the end, but here’s the text:

Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow. Debbie spends so much American money. You borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow.

Let me point out a few things:

• The Gong: It starts with a gong.  Yes.  A Gong.  Let me reference the aptly named Oriental Riff entry in Wikipedia: “The Oriental riff, also known as the Asian riff or the Chinese riff, is a musical riff or phrase that has often been used as a trope or stereotype of orientalism in Western culture to represent the idea of the Orient, China, Japan or a generic East Asian theme by Western culture. The riff is sometimes accompanied by the sound of a gong.”  Having listened to copious amounts of Chinese pop music, I can tell you based on my experience that there is a certain lack of gong.
• Wrong Setting: If Hoekstra is trying to insinuate that money is being funneled into China, why is the spokesperson a girl riding a bike in the rice paddies?  This doesn’t conjure images of affluence or wealth – it draws on stereotypes of how people view “Asia” – the continent, not the diverse groups of cultures and countries that make up that continent.  Additionally,  with her white pants, 3/4th sleeve shirt, and hat – this actually conjures more connections with a traditionally dressed Vietnamese young woman.   Despite many years of rule by China, Vietnam is not China.
• Broken English: Just because the girl is from China doesn’t mean that she necessarily speaks broken English.  English is a global language, spoken by many people throughout the world.  While some might speak it with an accent or not very well, there are also very many people capable of speaking it correctly and well.  Hoekstra argues that
  

  The fact that a Chinese girl is speaking English is a testament to how they can compete with us, when an American boy of the same age speaking Mandarin is absolutely insane, or unthinkable right now. (Politico)

  Hoekstra must have missed out on this 2007 article of As China booms, so does Mandarin in U.S. schools or perhaps the fact that there are many Chinese-Americans who are bilingual?  Or did he not think of Chinese-Americans when he was talking about “American” boys and girls?

Most of today, I’ve been saying that Hoekstra did not get the memo that we are in 2012 – not 1912.   But the more I let this run through my brain, the more I couldn’t help but consider, who else did not get this memo?  How many people saw this ad before it ran?  Pete Hoekstra did not single-handedly film and air the commercial.  How many people worked on this “script”?  Filmed this commercial?  Saw the ad, approved it, praised it?  How many people were also involved in creating the DebbieSpendItNow.com website that is worse than this commercial?  The website that features “Asian” font, the phrase “The Great Wall of Debt”, and contains images of dragons, lanterns, and tea.  (As my co-worker pointed out, tea is served in England as well.)

The fact that this went from concept to launch (and is still going…) says something to me about a lack of cultural sensitivity and, moreover, a lack of understanding about America.  We are home to so many different peoples and cultures.  I do not see that as a weakness.  Feeding into negative stereotypes about those different peoples and cultures is a weakness.  Such actions reflect a lack of depth, a lack of consideration – especially as a politician that is supposed to represent the needs of the people.

Hoekstra may have thought he was attacking a candidate in his ad, but really he was attacking a culture and its people – a great many of whom live in the United States.

-cct

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

– Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

I received the news of Steve Jobs’ passing while in my online class session – in front of the only Mac in my predominantly Windows-OS office, in front of my iPad that had my reading materials, in front of my iPhone where I kept watch of my work emails.  I never met the man personally, but in that moment I was very cognizant that this human being who had just passed away was very connected to how I live my life as another human being in this world. 

The quote above from Steve Jobs talks about making connections and trusting in something within yourself, but I think there’s something to be said about a man who was not only an innovative and creative thinker, but one who believed in something enough to make things happen for himself and others.  There are so few people in the world that can conceive of “dots” that do not yet exist for themselves – the kind of perspective to drive the framework of their own life – let alone that that framework could be something that involves the lives of so many others.

And if Steve Jobs’ life and legacy is a reflection of the power of perseverance, of thinking outside of the box, and belief in oneself – how much greater the world might be if we all began to do the same.

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs.  Thanks for thinking differently.

-cct

East Coast and Colorado?!  I really hope California doesn’t decide to go all diva today too.

-intellichick twitter

Antoine RJ Wright wrote back to me:

@intellichick according to earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/re… – no one can touch Cali Diva-ness

The link featured a view similar to the one below —

I think those dots are the West Coast’s collective giggle of Earthquake Diva-ness. In the end though, somehow I think the East Coast will get the last laugh.

-cct

-cct

1. Help out relief efforts in the South.  Osama’s passing did not stop tornados and floods.
2. Continue the dialogue of healing and working toward a better future.  Violence is a vicious cycle and let’s get out of it. 
3. Speaking of violence, aside from the things happening in the Middle East – there’s crazy stuff happening just south of our border in Mexico.  It is affecting our people, has affected our people, and we’re part of the problem. 
4. Let’s get out there into our local neighborhoods.  Take that energy to beautify a park, feed the homeless, volunteer for educational programs like reading to kids.

Point being – when 9/11 happened, we bonded together as a people under one nation, not divided by the diversity of our ethnical/cultural backgrounds, political perspectives, and varied locations.  Let’s return to that, but united in making this country one of the best in the world.

-cct