James Fallows, the former Tokyo-based correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly (why is there no The Pacific Monthly?), takes a moment today to extract, via his facility with definite and indefinite articles of English, a greater meaning from within the way members of two outwardly similar alien cultures performed the same act.
But then of course, the status of observer is privileged. We are looking at him looking at them...and he is the guy whose life situation permits the flying of light aircraft for fun.
When he was sent to Beijing last year, Fallows spent a great deal of time in his subsequent piece for The Atlantic drawing the exact same contrast, using airport baggage handlers. It seems to be a favorite theme of his.
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