I was listening to a podcast of a Swedish radio program about reporting. One of the participants was asked how come the news programs spent a lot of time reporting about the storm Gustav and theories on what might happen when it entered the US, and very little time reporting on an actual earthquake in China and an actual flood in India.

The response was that "It's not that we're racist or that we don't care about what happens in India or China - it's simply that what happens in the U.S. is more important."

I cannot properly convey the sound I made on hearing that.

Today at lunch I was sharing a table with seven other coworkers.

One of them made a racist joke.

I didn't say anything to discourage that sort of thing or show that I intensely dislike it.

I wish I had. I'm ashamed. I thought I was a stronger person.