Monday, June 8, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 15 All apologies At some point when you were growing up, you probably had a tough time fitting in. Maybe the "cool group" of kids didn't like you. Maybe that cute class- mate who sat next to you in math wouldn't talk to you. Per- CHRIS haps you were KOSLOWSKI popular and tried to reach out to that strange kid who ate his boogers, but he totally blew you off. You might have sought advice from your parents, who probably said something like, "Hey, all you can do is be yourself. If people don't accept you for who you are, that's their problem." I'm sure a mentor in President Barack Obama's childhood told him something similar. Sadly, he seems to have forgotten this guidance on his recent trips abroad. Rather than urging foreign governments to accept the United States as it is, Obama is apologizing for his nation and trying to paint it as something it's not. If Obama wants to improve foreign relations, speaking dishon- estly about America isn't the right place to start. Before his important speech about Middle East-American rela- tions in Cairo on Thursday, Obama said in an interview with a French television network, "If you actu- ally took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the larg- est Muslim countries in the world." But if you look at the range of dif- fering estimates, America would be between the 20th- and 50th-largest. Obama's underlying point that the U.S. is a religiously diverse nation is true. But misrepresenting demographics is not how Obama shouldbe promotingAmerica'sreli- gious freedom. In an e-mail to the Christian Broadcasting Network, Obama wrote that the U.S.. is "no longer just a Christian nation." He knows our country is not defined by the number of members in a cer- tain faith. How many Muslims we actually have within our borders should be inconsequential against the important fact that America is a fair, nurturing country for all peaceful religions, regardless of their prevalence. Similarly, Obama's promise in Prague on Apr. 5 to "seek the peace and security of a world with- out nuclear weapons" is another deliberate mischaracterization of America aimed to garner foreign support. Any reasonable person would agree that nuclear weapons are horrendous and should never be used. But America prides itself on responsible management of its nuclear arsenal. We keep bombs in order to deter the bad guys from using them. Pledging to rid the world of nuclear weapons is analo- gous to promising world peace - it's not going to happen. Instead of spouting pie-in-the- sky rhetoric while North Korea tests ballistic missiles, Obama should be working with foreign leaders to ensure that nuclear weapon technology doesn't fall into the hands of those with dan- gerous intentions. That has been the policy of the U.S. since the Cold War, and despite Obama's utopian dreams, he knows he will continue that policy. Why waste time trying to convince the world that America is going to do something it's not? Obama shouldn't twist the truth to look better. In an interview on June 1 with the BBC's Justin Webb, Obama claimed his speeches were about encouraging dialogue, rather than apologizing for the actions of the Bush administration. But in that same interview, Obama chastised America for imposing its values on other countries. Reading from a teleprompter in Strasbourg, France on April 3, Obama said, "In America, there's a failure to appre- ciate Europe's leading role in the world... America has shown arro- gance and been dismissive, even derisive." That sounds apologetic to me. How often do you hear a for- eign leader come to America and apologize for his or her country? You don't, because they believe what theyare doing is right. Obama should think the same way. The American spirit isn't one of arrogance. Americans are proud of what their country stands for, and foreign leaders will not be fooledby Obama's attempts to make it seem otherwise. Obama needs to stop trying to make America appeal to other countries through misrepre- sentation. Instead, he should work to convince other nations to trust and respect the U.S. for what it is. - Chris Koslowski can be reached at cskos[ow@umich.edu. At some point, I will be the ex-president, and then you will find me in France, I'm sure, quite a bit, having fun." - President Barack Obama, commenting on his recent trip to France and future visits, as reported yesterday by The New York Times. Understanding Africa omeone needs to tell Oprah thatAfricaisn'tone country. This is what Lindsay Louis, a trainee at the South African Department of Foreign Affairs, said when I spoke with him during my recent trip to South Africa. From his per- spective, Oprah JEREMY LEVY is one of many reasons Americans think that all African countries are identical. He's right. Most of us know little about Africa, and our inability to distinguish between its countries is, without question, linked to the continent's portrayal by charities and the media. Despite our lack of knowledge, we've 4emonstrated an immense desire to help Africa and donate money. But if Ameri- cans want to make a serious con- tribution to Africa's well-being, they can start by recognizing that African countries each experience a unique set of problems. Most everyone knows that Afri- can countries face serious problems with HIV/AIDS and poverty, that the continent is known for slums rather than cities and that many countries experience political unrest. But they don't know how these problems vary from country to country, as I found when dis- cussing my trip with people when I came home. Many displayed a mild degree of ignorance, asking if I stayed in a tent or a hotel, or if I was at risk of contracting tuberculosis. Some didn't seem to know that the country I was in even existed. One student in my group from the University of Michigan called her credit card company to say she was going to South Africa, to which the representative responded, "Which country?" The misguided perception that all African countries are the same isn't surprising. The continent receives most of its exposure from celebrity-sponsored charities that inform us about continental issues. It'sdifficulttoignore productsfrom Bono's (Product)Red campaign against HIV/AIDS or the 2005 Live 8 concert festival intended to raise awareness about African pov- erty. Such projects are admirable ways of providing emergency relief to a continent that needs it. But they spread the false perception that Africa's poverty can be solved through charity alone, which leads people to believe that the problems each country faces are identical. In reality, each country faces different problems, and long-term solutions to those problems will vary from country to country. In South Africa, for instance, over- coming poverty and disease will require overcoming de facto seg- regation, which still exists despite the collapse of apartheid in 1994. Most South Africans who are white, Indian or of a mixed heri- tage earn normal or high incomes by U.S. standards, and the poor- est citizens are predominantly of African descent. For this reason, solutions in South Africa require more than just charity. They will require equalizing a segregated job market and restructuring a largely private health care system that primarily caters to those who already have money. Media and news sources also contribute to the one-country myth by perpetuating stereo- types that the continent is run solely by corrupt governments. News stories tend to mask the true progress achieved by developing governments .and portray Africa as a continent destined to diverge into disorder. Media coverage of South Africa uses these stereotype by imply- ing that its government is not yet a true democracy due to its lack of a competitive party sys- tem. When the New York Times and The Economist covered the recent South African presidential election, they focused heavily on this point. They drew attention to the fact that no political party can compete with the African National Congress, the party that has won every presidential elec- tion and controlled South Africa's Parliament since 1994. But it's the South African citizens who have always voted for the ANC in large numbers. This trend is unlikely to change in the near future. The insistence that these results are disappointing undermines the fact that South African officials are elected democratically and fairly. Hey Oprah, Africa isn't only one country. Charities and media sources have succeeded in making us believe that Africa is one giant dis- ease stricken, impoverished coun- try engaged in civil war. We are willing to donate billions of dol- lars to Africa and simultaneously hesitant to believe that its govern- ments are developing democracies. Because of this distorted view, we have not realized thatthe countries that make up Africa are diverse and the solutions to their problems will have to be diverse as well. In South Africa's case, charity alone will not fix the systematic segregation that fuels poverty. If we can collectively change our perception of Africa from that of a homogeneous conti- nent, we will find it be beneficialto our desire to help. - Jeremy Levy can be reached at jeremiev@umich.edu.