No Respect

Rodney Dangerfield said it clearly and often and repeatedly and yet nothing seems to change. It is hard to get respect.

People do many things to get respect because it is a highly desired thing to have. To be respected by your peers or those referred to as "they". You know the "they" we all speak about when we say "they don't understand".

There was Prince who felt that his career was going no where, so he became "X formerly known as Prince" and then when that failed he became Prince formerly known as X.

We had Britney "The Mouseketeer" Spears who changed her name to Britney "The Sleezy Dancer" Spears. When that wasn't enough notoriety she changed it again to Britney "The Slut" Spears which has done wonders for her career.

Of course who could forget Lindsey "The Alcoholic / Drug Addict" Lohan who changed her persona to Lindsey "The Drug Addict / Alcoholic" Lohan and we were so excited for her.

But countries have their issues also, even on the world scale respect is desired but hard to get or maintain.

When you are a third world country with little going for it, in the shadow of truly major powers like China and India, its hard. Its harder still when your not even worthy of a War to call your own like Vietnam and Korea. Its even harder still when your not even worthy of getting the illegal overflow from one of those wars like Laos or Cambodia and harder even more still when you can't get a cute nickname like the Cambodia Killing Fields. What's a country to do?

So what can you do? Well your Burma, and how can you impress the girls with a name like Burma. I mean besides The Burma Road (look it up) what have you got going for yourself. Respect ... none.

So you change your name to something you think might be sexy and appealing ... like to Myanmar. Now its hard to pronounce, sounds kinda exotic ... it might work. And to make yourself more appealing, you put a Military Junta style government in charge to bring out your highlights and make you a hit with the kids.

And then comes the big test. You get hit by a Cyclone. Now what is a Cyclone? There are tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, mudslides, earthquakes and of course the worst ... to be hit by a "Bush/Cheney administration". So, what is a Cyclone? Well, who cares, its not good. So you are Myanmar and you get hit by one and now you're the top news story.

Well, you would think if your a "news" reporter you could at least get the country's name right or refer to it as 'formerly know as" but no poor Myanmar is referred to as Burma by reporters and government officials alike. We will not add more humiliation to this sad story by listing the long number who do not know it is Myanmar ... Wall Street Journal, New York Times, U.S. State Department among those we will not name, Where are the geography and map majors to publicly call then out for the fools they are? There is no Burma on the map . It is Myanmar.

I guess it is hard to get respect even if your a Military Junta stealing the rescue food and supplies for yourself. And then to show that you get no respect China wanting to put you in your place goes and has an earthquake to end your 15 minutes of fame. It is not easy being the country formerly known as Burma.