Sunday, April 09, 2006

Tiger Woods misses Masters

Tiger Woods, the world's most famous "Cablasian" failed to win his fifth Masters title after missing too many putts today. Phil Mickelson took the green jacket earning his second Masters title.

Woods has been under lots of stress lately due to the very serious condition of his father, who inspired the golfer to take up the sport.

One can't forget though that Woods made maybe his greatest shot yet when he recently lamented the lack of diversity in professional golf.

Tiger had always played seemingly to inspire pride in his father, and one thing Earl Woods had hoped for was that his son would change the status quo.

Some 10 years ago, Woods said his son "will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity." Tiger could be feeling, with his father's desperate condition, that it's time to start changing things.

Adidas sneakers flaunt offensive Asian images

Again we've seen a major U.S. corporation using negative caricatures of Asians on their products.

This time it's a new limited-edition Adidas sneaker displaying an image of an Asian man with "bowl-cut hair, slanted eyes, pig nose and buck teeth."

Adidas said the image is not offensive and the artist is part-Asian, but Asian American activist and community groups don't appear convinced.

Abercrombie & Fitch was that last major offender of this type, and their negative Asian stereotypes brought boycott actions.

It would be interesting to investigate whether products containing the offensive images actually do well on the market. After all, it's all about the money.

Here's a link to the whole story from the San Jose Mercury News:

Outcry over Adidas sneaker images

Crisis in Nepal

Protesters have violated curfews in Nepal resulting in hundreds of more arrests and at least one death.

The agitation is aimed at the country's king Gyanendra who sacked the democratic government headed by Sher Bahadur Deuba. In recent elections a new parliament was elected but many view it as a puppet regime with the king as head autocrat.

Ever since the tragic death of the former king, the country has been on shaky ground. Many believe that King Gyanendra's son Paras was actually the culprit behind that massacre rather than Crown Prince Dipendra. Prince Paras has long been disliked by the Nepalese public. His disfavor increased when he killed a popular Nepalese pop star in a car accident.

Now his father Gyanendra is matching his son's unpopularity.

With a seething Maoist insurgency spreading throughout the country, Gyanendra must respond to the people's cries for true democracy.