Dear Mr. O'Reilly
Greetings from a non- English speaking woman from New Delhi ( I hope you have heard of the city. In case you haven't, it's the capital of a country called India. Geographically India is situated in the South Asian part of the world.).
I have had the misfortune of stumbling upon your interview with Mr. Sudarshan Subedi. He is " Not that guy from Nepal" as you had mentioned. He is the Chairperson for the National Federation of the Disabled Nepal (NFDN), and has been working with Handicap International for more than a decade, promoting disability rights and policies. I would sincerely urge you to please find out about the people you or your programme interviews before you proceed to make fun and ridicule them.
Your attitude of mockery towards people who are unable to understand or speak your language is a classic case of the “White Man’s Burden” that has still not left the psyche of a North American more than the century after the poem was written by Rudyard Kipling. It is also reflective of the cultural superiority that your part of the world suffers with, i.e. considering everything non- American and non- white as only worthy of being an object of ridicule.
You may kindly note you made fun of an eminent personality who has not allowed his disability to be a hindrance in his work for securing rights for others like him, and was the only delegate from a Nepalese NGO attending the High Level Meeting on Disability and Development (HLMDD) at the United Nations in New York on September 23, 2013. Earlier in September, he joined Handicap International at a High Level UN meeting in Nepal. At this meeting, Handicap International presented the international context of the CRPD, while Mr. Subedi presented the Nepali context in regards to implementing various initiatives. So you see Mr, O’ Reiley, not knowing English does not in any way make a person less intelligent. It is good to know as many languages as possible ( I know five including your language English) but not knowing a particular language should not be used as a yard stick to measure the ability and intellect of any person. Which, Sir, in my opinion, your programme went on to do.
Let me burst your most popular bubble of English being the most widely spoken language. Mandarin (Oh yes, a languages and not just a fruit is called Mandarin,) and not English, is the mostly widely spoken language, followed by Spanish. About 955 million people ( Out of the 7.115 billion that the world now has) speak Mandarin. The total English speaking population accounts for 5.52% of the total world population. Since you are too wrapped up in making fun of people on grounds, where none exist and stalking people and ambushing them for higher ratings of your programme, you may not have had the time to learn Mandarin. Should this be held against you and people be allowed to cast doubts over your intelligence? You, Mr. O’ Reliey, would remain an ignorant and ethnocentric person, with or without learning the language.
I have had some wonderful friends and colleagues from your part of the world. People who are willing to unlearn and then learn. People most willing to go an extra mile ( or two) to be culturally sensitive and adapt themselves to the context, without losing their own individuality. You disappoint not only me but all the citizens of your country by your brattish and culturally insensitive behaviour exhibited towards Mr. Subedi. Each one of us are cultural ambassadors of our country, especially people in the media ( Such as you and your atrocious anchor Mr. Watters), who are watched by millions world-over. Your actions and your words are seen as actions and words uttered and done by your entire nation. I had never heard about you ( Thank God for that) till today when I had some Skype/ FB conversations, My Facebook page is flooded with your reference. Now that we have made acquaintances, all I can say is may God grant you the wisdom ( which you totally , entirely and completely lack) to understand that there is much more to a person than his ability to understand and speak the language which is not his own.
On a completely different note, how many languages can you actually speak besides your own?
Thanking you for your time.
Yours Sincerely
Pragya Mishra
