Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed publicly that China had a long way to go on human rights issues, and explained in a reasoned way why they had issues on human rights. Russia replaced Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer of oil. India has a nuclear-powered submarine.
The world we knew a few years ago has changed dramatically, and this has both positive and negative implications for our nation. Change in its own right is neither inherently one or the other, since "good" and "bad" are based on perspectives and require attaching values to change that aren't universal.
I recall people of my parents' generation complaining about Nirvana when I was in high school. Their parents complained about Elvis, and their parents' parents complained about swing music. Looking back, Nirvana is practically elevator music compared to modern rage-rock. Are any of these musical choices really as bad as opponents made them out to be? No, they are just different. People are scared of things they aren't familiar with, which is a natural biological reaction that has allowed our cautious species to survive.
That doesn't mean we need to be scared of everything. Music is not harmful (unless played too loud, I've come to find out), different cultures are not harmful, different people are not harmful. Yes, there are elements of each that we may not personally agree with, but that doesn't make them wrong; it makes them different. In a nation that prides itself on individual liberty, we must recognize that different is just that, and not something to be feared or hated. After all, without new things, without different things, there would be no progress--things would not change for the worse, but neither would they change for the better.
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