Boston Globe runs AP story under this headline: Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management stake in U.S. ports
Nothing could say more about the ignorance of the U.S. mainstream media. Get your act together, Bozos. You've had at least a month of talking 24/7 chatter about this wee little country - the UAE, the United Arab Emirates. First lesson in respect: get someone's name right. My rant continues here.
The UAR, the United Arab Republic, died a well-deserved death over 40 years ago. It was a union between Egypt and Syria. Check it out - I offer history and geography lessons on the side.
Evidently, the source of the error is at the AP. Googlenewsing UAR at the moment gets you the helpful google response "did you mean WAR?" It also lists lots of identical AP-driven headlines:
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... San Diego Union Tribune, United States - 19 hours ago
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... Boston Globe
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... North County Times
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... Glens Falls Post-Star
TAGS: UAR, UAE, United Arab Republic, fact checking
Nothing could say more about the ignorance of the U.S. mainstream media. Get your act together, Bozos. You've had at least a month of talking 24/7 chatter about this wee little country - the UAE, the United Arab Emirates. First lesson in respect: get someone's name right. My rant continues here.
The UAR, the United Arab Republic, died a well-deserved death over 40 years ago. It was a union between Egypt and Syria. Check it out - I offer history and geography lessons on the side.
Evidently, the source of the error is at the AP. Googlenewsing UAR at the moment gets you the helpful google response "did you mean WAR?" It also lists lots of identical AP-driven headlines:
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... San Diego Union Tribune, United States - 19 hours ago
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... Boston Globe
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... North County Times
Company based in UAR ready to give up attempt to take management ... Glens Falls Post-Star
TAGS: UAR, UAE, United Arab Republic, fact checking
Labels: Dubai Ports World, Egypt
posted by John B. Chilton at 3/10/2006 06:13:00 PM
3 Comments:
Splendid stuff: says it all really!
Whenever we travel to the US and because of our accents, we're always asked where we come from.
Most conversations generally go something like this:
Question: where are y'all folks from?
Our first response: UAE
Reaction: blank stare
Our 2nd response: Dubai
2nd Reaction: oh yeah
Our 3rd response: Do you know where that is?
3rd Reaction: not really
Our 4th response: Do you know where Africa is?
4th reaction: Oh yeah, of course!
Our 5th response: well, it's the little peninsular to the top right of Africa, sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Oman.
5th reaction: ohh right. That must be hot/dangerous/primitive/too close to Iraq - take your pick!
sheeesh.
You can never underestimate how lazy and uninformed the American Media are. I saw a story about Dubai from ABC News that had three glaring errors of fact in the first 10 seconds of the story.
nzm, you story reminds me of trying to tell people back home where I was moving. My conversations always went something like this:
Me: I'm moving to the UAE.
Them: What's that?
Me: A country in the Middle East.
Them: Aren't you afraid?
Me: No, it is perfectly safe, no terrorism, etc, etc
Them: Where is it?
At this point, depending on the person I'm talking to, I would take two tacks:
If the person seems resonable and informed:
Me: Between Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf (I know, it should be the Arabian Gulf, but Americans know it as the Persian Gulf).
If the person is like 98% of Americans:
Me: Between Oman and Qatar (said deliberately to make them loose interest in the conversation, since they have no idea what those countries are either but don't want to ask)
Them: (Eyes glazing over and not wanting to ask further) Ok, well good luck
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