Barrel Strength

During the 1908 London Olympics, the Parade of Flags was introduced and all flags were dipped in salute to King Edward VII.  That is all flags, except the flag of the United States.  The US shot-putter Ralph Rose refused to dip the American flag and reasoned that the US flag is not lowered for a mortal man.

Fast forward a 100-years and you have the sorry sight of the President of the United States not just bowing, but bowing very deeply to the Saudi King.  What has happened to the United States?  Given the message that this sends, he might as well have bent over the other way.

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There are certainly instances where protocol or etiquette require one to bow, although this certainly wasn’t one of those instances.  The proper way to address this situation was shown by Prince Phillip at Empror Hirohito’s funeral.  An eye-witness account stated “The Duke of Edinburgh went to his funeral in February 1989, but no one present, myself included, could decide whether Prince Philip bowed or not, the ever cautious British compromise.”  Prince Phillip, when asked about this several years later, said that he did not bow but instead stood there and nodded his head.  Having seen the video of that event, that would indeed be the best description.

Update: Your correspondent recalls an anecdote that Henry Kissinger related in one of his books.  During his foreign travels as the Secretary of State, he visited the Saudi Royal Court and when he entered, the Saudi king greeted him by taking a small step forward.  Kissinger noted that he was truly honoured by the gesture, especially considering that it was directed to a Jew.  That is how equals greet each other.

The overt racism toward blacks in the Arab culture was one of the reasons al-Zawahiri called Obama a “house negro”.  Obama’s action will only confirm these Arab prejudices.