tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5594178071784212079.post9032732228192165366..comments2023-06-12T09:43:25.286-04:00Comments on The Arms Control Otaku 『軍備管理のオタク』: It finally happenedRobot Economisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15462962401593301110noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5594178071784212079.post-56431979461390477582007-07-18T19:35:00.000-04:002007-07-18T19:35:00.000-04:00Dude, seriously? Sometimes policy folks in DC hav...Dude, seriously? Sometimes policy folks in DC have no perspective on how even similar-looking cultures can be fundamentally different below the surface.<BR/><BR/>Often times, the only way to see those differences is to examine those "broken vases and dinosaur bones." Even something innocuous, like breakdancing cliques can lead important insights into a culture and its nascent problems.Robot Economisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15462962401593301110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5594178071784212079.post-62351699660743152212007-07-18T15:26:00.000-04:002007-07-18T15:26:00.000-04:00Back in my college years(2003), I was interning in...Back in my college years(2003), I was interning in the District at a think tank that was hosting a roundtable with DoD about how to set up a television/radio entity Post-Saddam. While replenishing the Diet Coke supply (its like water to these people!) I was chatting it up with a government policy guy about the direction the talks were taking. I asked him if they had considered bringing in a Cultural or Linguistic Anthropologist to provide some insight on cultural norms and taboos. His response was, and I quote, "What do broken vases and dinosaur bones have to do with this?"<BR/>Not that my confidence in our post-war efforts were that high to begin with, but from that point on I was pretty much convinced that we were doomed.<BR/><BR/>Full disclosure-My father is a professor of Cultural Anthropology but with a focus in urban culture, so I wasn't trying to score him a consulting gig.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com