Wednesday, June 08, 2005

And The Award For "Clunkiest Metaphor Of The Week" Goes To...

Tom Friedman, of course. Don't trip over it on your way to the podium, Tom!

Every time I visit India, Indians always ask me to compare India with China. Lately, I have responded like this: If India and China were both highways, the Chinese highway would be a six-lane, perfectly paved road, but with a huge speed bump off in the distance labeled "Political reform: how in the world do we get from Communism to a more open society?" When 1.3 billion people going 80 miles an hour hit a speed bump, one of two things happens: Either the car flies into the air and slams down, and all the parts hold together and it keeps on moving - or the car flies into the air, slams down and all the wheels fall off. Which it will be with China, I don't know.

Wait... I thought the world was supposed to be flat? I'm so confused now. Also, wouldn't you really need a minivan or an SUV or something for that many people? Even so, I think you'd have a lot of people sitting on laps, and that's terribly unsafe.

People will pay money for this?

4 comments:

Thers said...

1.3 billion people in one car? Wow. Muust be a bit cramped.

Anonymous said...

Silly,everyone knows that was a metafer!

Anonymous said...

Rumsfeld said something very similar to this last week about China at a meeting in Singapore in case you're wondering where Friedman is lifting his material from.

It's still funny to hear these morans talk about political reform to liberalise China, when these morans are pushing Patriot Act 2 in the States.

Eli said...

Wow. Ripping off Rumsfeld for material. That's... pretty pathetic.