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So? In case you hadn't noticed, I am on the side that doesn't care for quotas. The fact that you do not know Barry Gordy shows the problem. He is an African American, who founded Motown Records. Motown, in turn, did the most of any company to bring black artists into the mainstream, not only in the States, but in Western Europe. Since American pop culture has become global, he did more to promote the interests of persons of African descent, worldwide, than Nelson Mandela, in my opinion.....Mao was among the top three mass murderers of all time. Deng and Sun Yat Sen are essentially Chinese figures, with little resonance elsewhere. I originally included Gandhi, but decided to take him off because of the slaughter occasioned by independence, for which he was not to blame, of course, but which represented a willful naivete about the consequences of too rapid an independence process. I may reconsider....What African would you propose? Mandela? But he is essentially a South African figure, and not terribly relevant elsewhere. It remains to be seen how far his influence will carry in South Africa itself....What Latin American would you choose? Zapata? But he is essentially a Mexican hero, without much "legs" outside of that country. Maybe Borges, but he may as well be European....In case you hadn't known it, Catholicism is very powerful in the Third World, and English is the lingua franca of the century. You might be surprised at who knows Chesterton...As for Rogers and Hammerstein, I will think about it..... |
