Americans had heard of Malaysia before this. Knew it was a country. Knew it was in Asia. Knew its language was Asian. Americans knew Malaysia was over there by the Philippines. Somewhere.That tsunami hit there. Or nearby. It was a friendly country. Catholic. Probably. Maybe Buddhist. Malaysians look like Vietnamese. Sort of. We liked Malaysia.
Americans do not understand this. How the words got changed. The search area changed. Twice. Or more. Americans do not understand how, in 2014, you can so thoroughly lose an airplane.
Before this, and CNN's wall-to-wall informing us, Americans didn't know shit about Malaysia. Now, some of us could pick the Malaysian PM out of a photo lineup of other Malaysians.
You only get one chance to make a first impression.
