Saturday, September 10, 2016

This post has been outsourced

No, not to China or India ;)

Remember this post from a few days ago?  That was published in the newspaper this past Tuesday.

I got a lovely email in response from a retired physician, who is mighty impressed.  And he wants me to have lunch with him.

But, that was not the only response.  Read, if you want, the comments at the end of my op-ed.  Not constructive a discussion though.

Today's paper includes two letters.  I have reproduced them here verbatim; this is the outsourcing that the title of this post refers to.

Here is letter #1:
I read Sriram Khé’s Sept. 6 column regarding climate change with a mixture of admiration and wonderment. Admiration for the obvious reason — he is a brilliant man — and wonderment that not only he, but anyone else these days, hardly mentions the 800-pound gorilla in dealing with climate change: overpopulation.
As I said before, Isaac Asimov said it best 50 years ago: “Either decrease the birth rate, or increase the death rate. Take your pick.” That was before the evidence regarding climate change was established. Given what we now know about climate change, the word now is must.
Despite the best attempts by two to engage with logic and evidence, the rest of the comments are like how the internet discussions are :(

Letter #2 is even  more interesting.
I cannot understand why The Register-Guard continues to print articles on its op-ed page that only point out our mistakes and do not offer solutions. In particular, I refer to “Keep your eye on India...,” published Sept. 6.
The author, Sriram Khe, was born in Chennai, India. His family obviously was wealthy enough to give him an education which allowed him to attend college in the United States. Does he go back to India, which is greatly in need? Instead he takes a position which can be filled by any number of the Oregonians who also applied for his teaching position at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. Khe is needed in India. India is the country to which he owes his loyalty and success.
If only the letter writer understood that I am a citizen of the US, and that my loyalty is to these United States!  Even more, as that pathologist friend once commented, I love Oregon way more than even native Oregonians do ;)

There's an awesome response that has been posted there:
This is one example of why I like the ability to make an instant comment on letters! I'm amazed at this churlish attack on Sriram Khe and his writing. If he were, for example a physician or engineer, I might agree he'd be more moral if he went back to India to help his people -- the idea of the "brain drain" which has so benefited the US comes to mind.
However, as a professor here he has the opportunity to share his unique world view with insular Oregonians, something I appreciate and I imagine most of his students at Monmouth also enjoy. There's a Big World out there and we need to understand it.
Meanwhile, regarding my original op-ed on climate change, yet another scientific analysis, which concludes that extreme weather events are tied to climate change.

Have a nice day, y'all ;)

2 comments:

Ramesh said...

Interesting responses. I am amazed by the response of "go back". Really ?? Is the US still that sort of a place ? That too in deep blue Oregon ??

In all my dealings with the US, I haven't felt this sentiment to any significant degree. The US is easily the most open and welcoming country to people of all shapes, sizes and colours. Its not perfect, but it is way better than almost all countries. Then why is the likes of your Presidential candidate thriving ? Can economic difficulties just make a man lose his values ?

Sriram Khé said...

Yes, even deep blue Oregon has some serious White nativists.

It is not about economic difficulties as much as it is about the political rhetoric ever since 9/11. Up until 9/11, it was the America you describe. Since then, the GOP and the Tea Party has so much demonized the "other" that now even a citizen like me is not welcomed by some, leave alone the billions of brown skinned folks who live outside the border :(