Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Future and competition -- a chinese viewpoint

BTW, the shot you took toward Austin, "I know Austin thinks Americans (or do you mean white Americans Austin) have the corner in the market on creativity." was uncalled for. It sounded like a backhanded way of saying he is racist. Austin sticks up for Americans, and I have never seen him separate them by color.

The comments made that Americans were the leaders in invention and creativity was similar to comments years ago about the limits of Asians. I do think there are differences in culture, we wouldn't have the old joke about European heaven and hell. I have been in 30 automobile assembly plants around the world and I know there are cultural differences in workers.

Chinese don't feed the ear grain and the cob. Just the cob. They can't afford to give them both, as they need the grain.

That was the point.

Ren

And yes, it was probably a low blow but I think it typical of "racist" type of thinker when they distort the facts. From Industry Week:

Geographical Shifts

Various factors -- including rising transportation costs, quality issues and currency fluctuations -- have manufacturers rethinking where they source and produce products and components. An AMR Research Inc. survey conducted in late May asked 113 executives about their supply chain plans over the next year. Of those surveyed, 64% come from companies with more than $5 billion in revenue. The rest reported revenues less than $5 billion.

Change in Sourcing Activities for the Next 12 Months

Within the United States
Increase Sourcing -- 23%
Decrease Sourcing -- 25%
No Change -- 52%

Near Shore
Increase Sourcing -- 30%
Decrease Sourcing -- 7%
No Change -- 63%

You have not shown that Austin distorted any facts, using this post. Outsourcing products or service is only a sign that foreign workers, with a lower standard of living, are able to produce products or provide service cheaper than Americans. It has nothing to do with creativeness, unless you decide the American businesses are being creative on how to increase their bottom line.

Besides, I've seen plenty of distortion of facts to support one's position and never attributed it to racist thinking.

There is extremely little food value in the cob, even for a ruminant. In the USA there are other uses for a corn cob, as a polishing abrasive for one. With the increased use of fiber to produce methynol, some combines have been converted to gather the fodder, including the cob, after the grain is stripped from the cob. Americans hold those patents. And I couldn't tell you what race they are.

Maybe it is just me but I am failing to see the correlation between the cheap shot and the stats.

Oh, dear.

I think I prefer the name-calling to be a little more subtle -- back-handed, even. Easier to pretend it didn't happen... or to give the writer the benefit of the doubt, whether deserved or not.

Umm. What's going on here? This conversation is becoming increasingly...unlike this board.

The thing that makes this board so special (for me at least) is the extremely high level of courtesy and respect in the posts. The high level of thoughtfulness that goes into the posts keeps me coming back. I'm also very fond of the general lack of flaming that we see here.

Val

I agree Val and I apologize. I went too far. It was not my intention to go in that direction.

I am not posting to the thread anymore.

Ren

Chenchuan,
I think your daughter's review got a little lost in the discussion here. I think her opinion on this might count for a little more the some of the ramblings of the rest of us. Tell her I enjoyed reading it very much and feel that it was very well written. I teach cross-cultural communication and would like to use the review in a class. Where was it published?