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  their presentation is provided or available."         Thomas Mann, 1896

Letter from the President

John Hathaway-Bates
President & Executive Director

In my travels I overhear many conversations dealing with such things as the War in Iraq and the War on Terror, the United Nations and Muslim Fundamentalism; and almost without exception the people doing the talking are playing cards with a short deck – in other words, truth and knowledge is a very small fraction of their argument.  Lately I sat next to a gentleman on the plane back to Los Angeles from San Francisco and I was treated to the most amazing mixture of inaccuracies and downright xenophobia on the above four subjects that I have heard in many years.  I was lucky that he was talking to someone else, for had he been talking to me, and I had pointed out some of the more “stupid” of his misconceptions, I have no doubt he would have resorted to the usual fall back of all those of limited knowledge and/or intelligence – violence.

Yet it made me realize just how many people get to vote, and to vent their opinions with little or no knowledge of the truth or the facts.  If only people would actually learn more about our world and the people, religions and countries in it – I am certain there would be less violence, less hatred and far less sorrow on this planet. 

I truly believe that America (in fact the whole world come to that) desperately needs a real International News Channel – one that ignores movie stars, sports and athletics, police chases and court cases – for those we have the Entertainment Channel, ESPN, Network TV and Court TV.  As it is, the majority of younger Americans can tell you what Michael Jackson was wearing the last time he was in Court, but have no idea of where Chile, Latvia or Sudan are on the map – they can also tell you everything about the stars of prime time TV shows – but have no idea what the Arab Press or the European Press is writing about their country this week.

So, my friends, it is up to you to change it!  I have done everything that I can do personally.   On our World Information pages you can read local newspapers from all over the world published in English, find out what the CIA and the British Foreign Office think about the other countries on our planet, in fact everything from pictures to GDP, religion and health statistics to real time Stock Exchange quotations – all you need to do is send everyone you know to our World Information pages: http://www.bizforum.org/www_rec1.htm

To go directly to the World Information Pages yourself, go to:  http://www.bizforum.org/world.htm

It has been a strange month – proving yet again just how easy it is in this world to make a fool of oneself.  However, today, thanks to the Internet, there are tens of thousands of people in more than a hundred countries who now know how often I miss the ball – take a dive – fall over my own feet – etc. etc.  (there were 528,123 Hits on our Web Site last month!)

My most humiliating mistake this month was sending a “bantering” to everyone on The Business Forum’s email lists – and sending a few of my friends in my personal Bantering Circle an invitation to a Business Forum Luncheon meeting.  For those of you who do not know what a bantering is – simply explained it is a “missive” that is as outrageous, or unbelievable if you will, as the writer can achieve, where in fact everything written is the truth – save for just two of the statements included within it.  It is designed to make you study – in that you have to work out which of the many stated “facts” are the two “untruths”.  There are six members of my own Bantering Circle, all of us have different professions and we live in four different countries, so we get to play with each other’s minds in what I find to be a very stimulating exchange of information.  However, many of those who received it must still be trying to work out what it was all about.

Hope to see you at lunch soon,

President & Executive Director

You can email me at   john@bizforum.org
You can telephone me at         310-550-1984 
or you can Fax me at                    310-550-6121

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Previous Letters from the President

April 2001
May 2001
June 2001
July  2001
August 2001
September 2001
October 2001
November 2001
   December 2001   
The Etiquette of Formal & Business Dining

January 2002
February 2002
April 2002
May 2002
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002

December 2002
The Viking Effect upon World Freedom

 A tongue-in-cheek treatise on the many benefits that a country gains simply by being founded by the descendants of populations who were most often raped, pillaged and looted by the Vikings.

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January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003

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January 2004
March 2004

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