Interesting --- I find this to be a very interesting remark. As tempted to agree as I am, and even prone to argue that somehow we are "wired" to do this interpretation intuitively, there are some facts that show the opposite.

I am going back to my Walt Disney examples here (but also WB, Hannah Barbera and basically every cartoon or movie we or our parent grew up with). There has been much debate recently regarding the messages, images and values portrayed in these cartoons or movies that turn out to be politically incorrect today. Of course I would never defend sexual harrasment, but putting the blame on Pepe Le Pew seems a bit too much. So, apparently, we do not contextualize as automatically as it may seem.

The cartoons are of course a banal example, and yes, we can probably sort it out by putting a disclaimer at the beginning, but I think they show how tense and extreme the matter of political correctness has come. Extrapolating this to international relationas or international law, I think it is almost impossible to leave contextual interpretation to intuition.

Source author: Desirée Colomé Menéndez dcolome@sre.gob.mx