Thomas Friedman

Man, it's been a long time since my last post! So what's prompting this new post, you ask? Mainly, I'm finally getting around to something I've been promising myself to do for a while now. But, an equally important factor is the talk I heard given by Thomas Friedman -- the NYT columnist and author of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" -- the other day.

I have to admit, I really didn't know much about this guy before I attended his talk. I've probably read some of his columns in the past (although, since I'm not a regular reader of the New York Times, I don't rightly know who all I've read), and I've even read a good part of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree". But I was really inspired to go by a friend of mine who was willing to forego a game a ping-pong to attend the event. That's commitment. Even so, I found myself asking another friend, as we walked over to the lecture hall, what's so special about this Thomas Friedman guy anyway -- not realizing that the man himself was a few footsteps behind us on the way to the same destination.

So what was it about Mr. Friedman's chat that finally got me off my rump and blogging? Well, for starters, he had a lot of interesting points to make, mostly about the situation in the Middle East and the effects of globalization. One point that I thought was particularly interesting concerned the real reason for the war in Iraq. Mr. Friedman argued, very convincingly, that the real reason for the war was deterrence. Prior to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US had been attacked repeatedly around the world through terrorists actions, and the terrorists were starting to realize that there would be no serious repercussions. Hence, the need to communicate that there would be consequences -- big consequences. Another interesting point -- more of a great sound bite, actually -- that I don't think I'll ever forget, was what Mr. Friedman said in response to an audience comment about the immorality of the West, particularly with respect to the colonization of the Third World by England and other Western countries, and how the roots of terrorism lie in the atrocities perpertrated by the West. Mr. Friedman's response: "You haven't been colonized until you've been colonized by the Japanese. In comparison, being colonized by the British or anyone else is a day at the beach. . . . China, Taiwan, S. Korea have gotten over it. So should the rest of the world."

Ok, you say, this is great. But what does this have to do with writing? Well, Mr. Friedman repeatedly told us how he would get mad about something -- the fact that Colin Powell wasn't able to speak in England because of security concerns, that the national marching band competition was canceled because of security concerns, that his kids are entering a less-safe world than that he had entered -- and then express his frustration by writing. And I thought, there are plenty of things I'm pretty frustrated about. Even if no one ever reads my posts, this is a pretty good way of blowing off steam. If someone does read my posts, this may even prove itself to be an effective means of communicating my thoughts.

I took a class a couple of years ago called Interpersonal Dynamics. All of us in the class called it Touchy-Feely. While I have lots of stories about the class I'll no doubt write about in the future, one thing I learned is that having an opinion, feeling strongly about something is power. I am not a fan of conflict. All things being equal, I'd rather we just all get along. And I'd like to think that I'm not a megalomaniac. But there are important things in the world that too many of us allow to just pass on by. Thomas Friedman has power to influence some of these things because he has an opinion he's willing to promote. So can the rest of us.