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Entry: Bloomberg: New York's Nibelung Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/bloomberg_new_yorks_nibelung#7238 Post contents: @ Yiorgos, "Funny you mention this, whenever I have a “Taki” moment at a party, my wife from Mani gives me a discret elbow worthy of Chris Chelios behind a referees back." Here's an example of how bad it's gotten. Whenever I tell this originally Soviet joke to Americans, they invariably assume it's "racist", even though it's really about the American tendency to think in overly abstract ways at the expense of common sense, including common sense about race: Well, back in Soviet times, an American spy was trained to speak perfect Ukrainian, using all the current slang, and Ukrainian body language and 100 percent perfect Ukrainian behaviour. Then he was dropped in Kiev (I dunno how, maybe from an imitation-Soviet-helicopter), and while walking down Lenin Street he greeted two old men on a bench, "HELLO, Comrades!" And the two Ukrainians replied, "HELLO, American spy!" He gave up then and there, and said, "Alright, you got me. But how did you know I was an American spy?" And the Ukrainians said, "For one thing, we don't have many Blacks here." Sent at: 2008 07 23