Limbaugh's job

Andrew Leonard of Salon says this about Rush Limbaugh's racist aping of Hu Jintao:

I'm not sure what is more appalling: Rush Limbaugh's 30-second-long imitation of China's President Hu Jintao speaking in Chinese, delivered on his radio show today in the most abominable display of evil Oriental stereotyping this side of Fu Manchu, or the fact that Limbaugh obviously feels his audience would relish an indulgence in racist mockery that most third grade boys would be ashamed of.

C'mon, Leonard, where have you been?  Limbaugh is popular because he tells his audience they have no reason at all to be ashamed of anything.  His most important job and function among wingnuts is to edge right up next to the racial epithet and then only to imply it without saying.  His job is to set a social norm that builds a tribe for his listeners where every bigoted thought they have or even give voice to is close enough to be acceptable.

Why we're doomed

Our culture is drowning in bullshit.

We're actually spending precious time disserting on what beer our President is drinking. We're doing man-in-the-street interviews about Gov. Deval Patrick's black lab puppy's trips to the corner office on Beacon Hill. We're listening to job-hunting advice that puts personal branding above, you know, ability.

None of this is about the important questions we face. Health care? The economy? Boring.

This is why we're a culture in decline. Asia deserves to be ascendant.

Apologizing for daughters

Catching up on the dead tree edition of the Boston Globe...

This story on sex selection abortion gladdens my heart. Fingers crossed, it's a start on avoiding the military diaspora of Asian males that a lack of prospects for marriage and family that might otherwise be caused by the foolishly chosen scarcity of females.

One line half-way down the column buried the lead:

[M]others would often apologize for giving birth to a girl.

I think of the day my daughter was born, and I wonder how anyone could possibly apologize or expect an apology about such an event.

Of course, before I get too happy about the news from South Korea, there on the facing page is the Globalist Quiz, which has far worse news about India's cultural and institutional discrimination against women.

The end of dowry

Sex discrimination in Asia, married with technological sex selection of fetuses, is going to have unintended consequences. In the Boston Globe:

While India has had several women in positions of power -- most notably Gandhi and her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, who was elected to the more powerful position of prime minister in 1966 -- women still face rampant discrimination.

Many Indian families regard daughters as a liability because of a tradition requiring a bride's family to pay the groom's family a large dowry of cash and gifts. As a consequence, their education is often neglected, and many don't get adequate medical treatment when ill. If they are widowed, they are considered a burden on their children or families and face even more discrimination.

International groups also estimate that about 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in India over the last two decades as families show a widespread preference for sons.

There's already a significant surplus of males in India - and in the rest of south and east Asia. What will the future bring? A few predictions:

• Emigration - an additional reason, but not by any means the only one
• Exogamy
• The end of dowry, though probably not its reversal - there's still to much economic discrimination
• A larger supply of potential suicide bombers
• War, the last refuge of surplus males

No one can change the demographics. Is there anything anyone can do to mitigate their ill effects?