Former journalism student, then weekly editor, then broker Tom Kracerik emailed from Houston and reminded his Ole Professor of ‘Afghanistanism.’
In 1967 editor Jenkins Lloyd Jones, Tulsa Tribune, coined the phrase in a speech to the American Association of Newspaper editors. Wikipedia says….
Afghanistanism is a term, first recorded in the United States, for the practice of concentrating on problems in distant parts of the world while ignoring controversial local issues.
In 1968 my earlier time spent writing editorials for high school and university newspapers, then three editorials a week delivered on the television station I managed and later sold, prepared me to teach editorial and column writing in the upcoming fall semester.
I had read about Jones speech. And that summer when I was racing sailboats in Oklahoma, I stopped by his office. He gave me a copy of his speech.
The British interpret the term Afghanistanism as referring to
….hopelessly arcane and irrelevant scholarship, fascination with exotic, faraway lands, or Railing and shaking your fist at an unseen foe who is quite unaware of your existence, much less your fury.
Of the 14 students who took my editorial course, Merry Clark in New York remains my only contact. She also edited The Daily Texan after I did. One clever student, the late Rick Fish, went on to cover the Austin statehouse for Houston and Dallas dailies. Maybe I will now hear from others.
Those students ceremoniously gave me a second-hand, paperback copy of Michener’s Afghanistan…that I read while they wrote exam papers. You may want to find his book and read if you have heard little about this faraway Middle Eastern country.
