Let’s get this out of the way right now:
Yes, I live in Memphis.
Yes, the one in Tennessee.
And yes, the one with the guy, mayor pro tem no less, who fist-bumped the Dalai Lama.
And greeted him with, “Hello, Dalai”, let’s not leave that part out.
In case you haven’t heard about it yet, this is how it was reported here:
"Memphis, September 22, 2009--Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery broke protocol, in a good natured way, during a visit by the Dalai Lama Tuesday.
During a welcoming ceremony in Tom Lee Park, Lowery gave the Dalai Lama a fist bump and then said, "Hello Dalai."
The Dalai Lama laughed during the moment but later said the gesture invokes thoughts of violence.”
It isn’t clear if this reporter means Myron there was able to invoke thoughts of violence in the Dalai Lama…pretty half-assed writing, and reporting, if you ask me.
Of course, I’m sure it seems like a pretty half-assed gesture, fist-bumping the Dalai Lama and all. And it is. But truth be told, Myron there was representing his city in the most genuine sense. That’s how we do everything in Memphis—half-assed.
This is, after all, the same Memphis where then-Mayor and former superintendent of City Schools Willie Herenton once told a national news outlet our fair city sits squarely on the “Pneumatic Fault Line.”
This is the same place which, in the hope of attracting tourism dollars, was sold on the half-assed idea of constructing a modern-day pyramid as a concert venue/sports arena, by a man whose very name should have given everyone pause—well I ask you, would you entrust mega-millions of dollars to a man named “Sidney Schlenker “ ?
This is the mecca to which thousands of fans come every year, in honor of the day Elvis Presley sat on his gold toilet seat, and his heart exploded.
Still, the fist-bump debacle is pretty half-assed, even for Memphis…I mean, how hard would it have been to google “protocol” ?...
No wonder we lost the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame—to Cleveland.
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Lachlan Wittick
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