Oops!
I am a big fan of satire…especially of the Borowitz kind, although The Onion will do in a pinch.
So I should be forgiven that when I read a particular “news bit”, I automatically assumed that what I was reading was a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun.
It was when I realized that it was a true story, that my chuckles wouldn’t stop.  See, I’m chuckling now, just thinking about it. 🙂
Some background and context first:
The President of the Republic of China Xi Jinping (the anglicized pronunciation is “Shee Chin-Ping”) had a state visit to India a week ago.  When you think of it, considering that we are talking about the massive nations of China and India (sometimes friends, most times foes) this was really quite remarkable and rare. No surprise then that this significant event resulted in  considerable media coverage. Â
According to the Economist, Jinping is the most powerful and popular leader in China in several decades. Â To quote –
He has become the most powerful Chinese ruler certainly since Deng, and possibly since Mao. Whether this is good or bad for China depends on how Mr Xi uses his power. Mao pushed China to the brink of social and economic collapse, and Deng steered it on the right economic path but squandered a chance to reform it politically. If Mr Xi used his power to reform the way power works in China, he could do his country great good. So far, the signs are mixed.
President Xi Jinping (second from left) during his recent State Visit to India
More context –
Doordharshan (DD) is the government run television channel in India, like PBS but nowhere near as good. When it was the only channel available, it was quite the star but today with the explosion of hundreds of commercial channels in India, this one has gone off into the background, neither able to attract an audience or high quality talent.
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Who knew that putting these two together would result in such a colossal faux pas?
The news story in question was really very short; in fact, the headline said it all:
“DD anchor sacked for calling Chinese President Xi JinPing ‘Eleven‘ “
Turns out that this was no joke!
Instead, when covering the state visit (which I have not been able to find on youtube – great job obfuscating it, DD!), the unnamed DD news anchor* referred to the Chinese President as Eleven JinPing, mistaking his name for a Roman numeral.Â
It really happened! Â Here’s one of many links to the story.
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. And LOL-funny, to boot. 🙂
* As funny as this incident is, it is not so funny that the news reader was sacked. The saving grace for both DD and her is that she was not a permanent staff member but a substitute news reader (who will likely learn a lot because of this blooper).  Plus DD has done a great job of keeping her name out of the media spotlight. Perhaps she will look back on this several years from now and have a laugh too. Let’s hope.
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Photo Credit:Â By Narendra Modi [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
Are you a Facebook hater?
Are you a facebook hater? Do you look down your nose at fb users?
Here are quotes from a few (of many, many,many!) people who enjoy skewering facebook. Maybe you are like one or more of them?
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“I want to make a Facebook account and the name will be Nobody so when I see stupid crap people post, I can Like it. And it will say Nobody Likes This.”  ― Jason Hendeles
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“Friendship is something to be achieved over years of deep and intimate connection, not by clicking on a small picture and requesting it.” ― Ivo Quartiroli, Facebook Logout – Experiences and Reasons to Leave It
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“Can we go back to using Facebook for what it was originally for – looking up exes to see how fat they got?” ― Bill Maher
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“Of course you’re not egotistical. I checked, and you look very humble in all 900 of the selfies you posted on facebook.” ― Sienna McQuillen
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“It amazes me that we are all on Twitter and Facebook. By “we” I mean adults. We’re adults, right? But emotionally we’re a culture of seven-year-olds. Have you ever had that moment when are you updating your status and you realize that every status update is just a variation on a single request: “Would someone please acknowledge me?”  ― Marc Maron, Attempting Normal
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“Facebook gives people an illusory sense of being LIKED.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
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I, on the other hand, am an active fb user and aficionado. Perhaps not as active as I used to be, but still there checking fb a couple of times every day (I lie, it’s more).
Mark Zuckerberg does not need my help nor any more users…but I thought I would lay out why I’m a fan.
Ah, what the heck. Let me give Mark Z some more friends even though he doesn’t really need my help with any of this.
It all boils down to this:  I feel amazingly connected.  Correction. I am connected.
To who, you say?
- To my old school friends (and teachers!) who I had not heard from or about for years and years (I won’t date myself and say for how long)
- To long lost friends and colleagues that I should not have lost touch with…but life took over
- To my cousins and other family friends who are spread out around the country and world…how else would I hear about all the wonderful stories of Satya’s little ones who I have yet to meet?!
- To my current pals who I still see every week
- To my old pals who have moved away from town
- To my family members including my mom who lives 10,000 miles away
- To my kids (but I see only what they choose to show me)
And what’s it all worth to me?
As MasterCard says so well, in these days where time and life seem to be zipping along at an ever increasing pace, those connections (and especially the ease of them) are simply priceless.
“My generation was secretive, brooding, ambitious, show-offy, and this generation is congenial. Totally. I imagine them walking around with GPS chips that notify them when a friend is in the vicinity, and their GPSes guide them to each other in clipped electronic lady voices and they sit down side by side in a coffee shop and text-message each other while checking their e-mail and hopping and skipping around Facebook to see who has posted pictures of their weekend.”  ― Garrison Keillor
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The Yin and Yang of Life Anywhere 