Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Who knew there were redneck Iraqis?
This morning on my way to work, I was listening to an NPR story about Iraqis who work as translators for the U.S. military, and how that choice of occupation has caused them to be reviled by other Iraqi citizens. In order to protect their privacy, NPR gave the translators it interviewed fake names. Unfortunately, the aliases it chose to use were Dennis and Ronny. At that point I could no longer pay attention to the story, because I was using all my energy to marvel at the stupidity of these name choices.
First of all, it's beyond me why they didn't at least attempt to pick Arabic names. Perhaps they thought choosing aliases like "Ali" and "Muhammed" would be considered stereotyping. Fine, whatever. But how about digging out your Big Book of Arabic Baby Names and picking out something a little more obscure? Or hell, even ask Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for some suggestions--I'm sure they've got some Arabic names in the hopper, since they're sure to either adopt or give birth to a child in the Middle East at some point in the future.
Because seriously, Dennis and Ronny? Are they native Iraqis by way of Talledega? Or are we supposed to believe that the influence of icons like Larry the Cable Guy and the continued white-trash sprial of Britney Spears has extended so far around the globe that people in other countries are starting to give their children hick names? God, let's hope not.
This morning on my way to work, I was listening to an NPR story about Iraqis who work as translators for the U.S. military, and how that choice of occupation has caused them to be reviled by other Iraqi citizens. In order to protect their privacy, NPR gave the translators it interviewed fake names. Unfortunately, the aliases it chose to use were Dennis and Ronny. At that point I could no longer pay attention to the story, because I was using all my energy to marvel at the stupidity of these name choices.
First of all, it's beyond me why they didn't at least attempt to pick Arabic names. Perhaps they thought choosing aliases like "Ali" and "Muhammed" would be considered stereotyping. Fine, whatever. But how about digging out your Big Book of Arabic Baby Names and picking out something a little more obscure? Or hell, even ask Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for some suggestions--I'm sure they've got some Arabic names in the hopper, since they're sure to either adopt or give birth to a child in the Middle East at some point in the future.
Because seriously, Dennis and Ronny? Are they native Iraqis by way of Talledega? Or are we supposed to believe that the influence of icons like Larry the Cable Guy and the continued white-trash sprial of Britney Spears has extended so far around the globe that people in other countries are starting to give their children hick names? God, let's hope not.
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