Arrogant Cartography

I was looking something up on Google Maps today when something significant struck me. Most countries spell and pronounce the name of their country completely different from the American/English version. I dunno...seems pretty disrestpectful in this modern globally interconnected world.

Check out Europe for a taste of what I mean. -I do give Google props for putting the correct name in a larger font.
http://maps.google.com/?ll=45.336702,17.094727&spn=24.427528,46.494141&z=5

I'm Feeling Judgmental

I believe people hide behind cultural sensitivity in order to avoid being judgmental of those who need judging. The word ‘judgmental’ most often has a negative connotation, but when it comes to human rights, I think we all need to get a lot more judgmental. We don't have to be tolerant of a cultural practice of repressing women or philandering with the knowledge of your positive HIV status. This is not about perpetuating ethnocentric dogma; this is about knowing right from wrong.

People like to go on diatribes about crossing lines into gray areas and descending slippery slopes, but that’s bullshit. Human rights are black and white. If you abuse the rights of others as a country or a culture or an individual, then you should be punished. I’m not saying we send missile strikes against all ethically archaic cultures, just stop financially supporting evil. Stop turning a blind eye to dictators that have dissenters killed and theocracies that punish women for having the audacity to learn.

The U.S. gives billions in foreign aid to countries that condone female circumcision, allow mobs to murder religious rule-breakers (no irony there), and even tolerate modern slavery. As educated citizens of humanity we should say, “Hey, we used to make these mistakes, but now we are more evolved and we’re not going to tolerate these abuses from anyone else. Knock off the murdering, repression, and mutilation or you get nothing from us.”

America and other progressive nations don’t do this because they don’t want to upset the fragile balance of their key allies. I say call their bluff- they need us much more than we need them. We can pull the plug on foreign oil or key shipping partners and still survive as a nation long enough to get our point across. How long do you think it would take for them to start leaving pathetic messages on Obama’s voicemail promising they’ll change if we’ll only take them back?