Nigeria rules, SWC learns
I know the original thread title was / is 'Nigeria & Islam: terrorism plus', but we have meandered to our gain IMHO. SWC is not just a discussion forum, it also seeks insight and understanding. Some would call this Human Terrain plus. :wry:
The thread has helped provide context for the perceived threat from Boko Haram.
You've neatly encapsulated two big US problems...
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Originally Posted by
KingJaja
It is important to note that none of the positive perceptions of the United States in Africa have anything to do with the US military.
It has been my observation that is true in most of the rest of the world. I have also noted that the relative dislike of the over large, over wealthy US while subject to many variables peaked IMO in the late 1968 - early 1970 period over Viet Nam then began to decline only to again climb as the Goldwater-Nichols took hold and the US Armed Forces assumed worldwide responibilities under the Geographic Commands -- and as US Aid, USIS the PEACE Corps and the Department of State all were eclipsed by the military ascendance. Major and deleterious unintended consequence.
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They also are more at our level - i.e: my Chinese boss / colleague may be an SOB, but he is also less likely to earn ten times my salary for doing a similar job, more likely to live, shop and use the same mode of transportation as I do - and since he is at a similar social level, there are more opportunities for interaction.
Having tried to live, work and spend like a native in two foreign nations on the rationale that US perceived excess annoyed the locals, I can tell you it's hard to do -- the system, the US System, doesn't like that. You make others look bad and that causes dissension. The system likes -- seeks -- tranquility... :o
Reactions of locals were varied and interesting -- suffice to say, it isn't easy to blend.
The flip side is that if you put most US salary in escrow pending return to CONUS and paid US civilian or military employes at local rate, you'd likely get few takers for overseas jobs. I do not see any easy solution to that problem...
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There are Chinese who tend to seclude themselves from the locals, but as they gain familiarity with Africa, the tendency is for them to interact more with the people. On the other hand, Westerners are retreating back more into their shells (albeit for understandable reasons - security).
I suspect security is a big but far from the only reason for that withdrawal into little golden ghettos. Whatever the cause, it's a part of the salary / blending problem and we Americans do not do it well. Neither did the British, really but then, they didn't expect to be 'liked.'
Off topic? Yes! But interesting and insighful? Hopefully!
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Originally Posted by
Ken White
The flip side is that if you put most US salary in escrow pending return to CONUS and paid US civilian or military employes at local rate, you'd likely get few takers for overseas jobs. I do not see any easy solution to that problem...I suspect security is a big but far from the only reason for that withdrawal into little golden ghettos.
My step-father was for a short time the personal physician to a prince in a Kingdom-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named. After eight weeks of not seeing his patient he was bored silly with compound life and carefully and politely resigned his position. But most of the other residents of the compound loved it there. These sorts of situations lead me to believe that a great many American ex-pats are exchanging a life of struggling to not miss a mortgage payment for a life of relative material comfort and the chance to “be somebody” on the local scene in a way they would never be in the States (*cough* missionaries *cough*). The escrow arrangement would take such folks—who do America’s image abroad no good—out of the selection pool if nothing else. But I do acknowledge that that group seems to make up such a large portion of the USpora that in doing so it might prove impossible to fill all the necessary slots.