FW: THIS WILL CURDLE YOUR BLOOD and anger a TRUE USA “citizen”

There was another outstanding email circulating our inboxes this week courtesy of a conservative manager. I should clarify that many of our company’s management skew right which helps fuel a prolific amount of inappropriate email literature (note: most of the guys are also Christian and white). This one manager is particularly gifted with tasteless notes—often sharing them with everyone, including the CEO. I have no doubt that he shares an email because he feels its content is legitimate. However, there is a clear distinction between feeling and being informed which obviously escapes him. Here’s one of his latest gems:

WHAT NOVEL ARE YOU READING? ARE YOU READING THE SAME ONE OUR prez IS READING? THIS WILL CURDLE YOUR BLOOD AND should/ will SERIOUSLY ANGER YOU…

This is hardly to be viewed as a surprise…unless you are still in Denial that this guy is ‘tinkling’ on your leg while grinning and winking at you and telling you, “it’s only water!” Many of us still need a wake-up call.

This will open your eyes! What does Obama read? The name of the book Obama is reading is called:

“The Post-American World“, and it was written by a fellow Muslim.

“Post” America means the world After America!

Please forward this picture to everyone you know, conservative or liberal. We must expose Obama’s radical ideas and his intent to bring down our beloved America!

I am constantly amazed by the level of ignorance reflected by several of my colleagues. In this particular case, my coworker is critiquing President Obama for not, as Sarah Palin would say, “putting [white Christian] America first.” I’d argue that the President is simply just trying to be well informed; in fact, the book he’s reading in the picture is about how the United States can understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate and what it means to live in a truly global era.

To bring it closer to home—my company is in the document management/printing industry—Obama’s actions are no different from a printer seeking information on a “post printing world”; i.e. digital media is changing our industry permanently.

Can you imagine if my colleague was a proud Soviet in the 1980s and saw Mikhail Gorbachev reading about a “post Soviet [communist] Russia”? Would he regard Gorbachev as a capitalist pig?

Or if my colleague were a white South African during the early 1990s and witnessed Nelson Mandela reading about “post apartheid South Africa”? Would he label Mandela as a racist politician looking out from blacks?

Gorbachev and Mandela were far from self serving heads of state. They were leaders who navigated their country through inspiring change and cultural or economic growth (if not both).

I understand that the President can be a polarizing figure to some and many like to challenge his actions. But here’s the catch: if an individual wants to challenge something, whether it be a person or situation, shouldn’t they get all their facts straight? If you want to change what people believe, or the direction a country (or company) is going, the first step is to figure out how to be the best informed person in the room.

Some people stay informed by reading a lot, asking questions, understanding the arguments from the other side, surrounding themselves with people they learn much from.

Others prefer to stay ignorant and forward emails that they feel is right.

[note: The book The Post-American World is written by Fareed Zakaria and is summed up by the author as such (from Amazon): "This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else." So begins Fareed Zakaria's important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the "rise of the rest"—the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination."]

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