Thanks to Tim Romano for his detailed response to my questions on this
topic.

You said,

<<Now, let me ask you something. Do you associate poverty with a lack of
respectability?>>

I had written:

[<< "So what you might consider to be an attempt to enforce "political
correctness," on the part of a Pakistani delegate, may in fact be an
insistence on accuracy, and a demand that such words as "poor" not be
applied to a respectable culture and civilization." [WEI]


The two are often associated.  Poverty is an indignity, and as such is not a
repectable state of being, in the eyes of many people.

When I made use of the phrase "a respectable culture and civilization," I
was thinking of the struggle of many Indians and Pakistanis to have the West
recognize that they too (like Europeans) come out of a long history of great
acheivements in literature, art, music, theology, metaphysics, ethics, and
mathematics.  Yet they are all too often tarnished with the brush of having
come from a "poor" country.

There is something which seems, to many non-Americans (and non-Europeans, a
bit condescending, and a bit paternal in refering to certain nations as
"poor."  As you say, it is not a very precise category.

Nevertheless, I admit to you some of my questions were a bit INFERnal, and I
understand that you were certainly making your best effort to play the role
you had been given at that conference.  You say you were just a student at
the time, and (in my view) that should have been taken into account by the
speaker who objected to your words.

I apologize for any offense I may have given you in my remarks; we all have
our special points of interest, and one of mine is trans-cultural discourse.
  Most of the time misunderstanding comes not from assertions of political
correctness on the part of disputants, but simply from a gap in the cultural
perceptions of those who are arguing about, or discussing an issue.

I greatly treasure your comments, especially your clear and careful efforts
to look at different perspectives sympathetically, and your talent in making
known to me many aspects of Pound's thought processes as you understand
them.

Friendly Greetings,

Wei




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