h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

you know... i live right next to it and i have never been... i thin i have said this before...
cheers
ford

~*~Goblin Valley. The reason being that it's unique, where as The Grand Canyon is not.~*~

~*~The Grand Canyon is not unique? Have you *been* to the Grand Canyon? I've been there twice, and it's impossible to capture it on film - it's just too immense.~*~

Size is nothing (to me). There are Canyons everywhere, but a Geographical formation like Goblin Valley hasn't developed anywhere else on Earth (to my knowledge).

So if you're still busy with this essay - here's some food for thought - African style. Growing up in a minority religeous community laid two foundations that affect this perspective - 1 there were always at least a few americans arround that were fairly decent and likeable people and 2 I was nurtured to reject predjudice of any kind - HOWEVER - in spite of all of this, were I to list all the places in the world I would like to travel to - America would be last on the list and were I to find myself at a coctail party and see an american aproaching - I'd look for an excuse to be gone when they made their way over.
Trying to steer away from the emotive revultion at a nation who - through the representation of their leadership - displays such blatant arrogance and meglomaniac stupidity - I'll try to categorise the influences that brought me to my present perspective.
First there's the political angle - a nation democratically governed is responsible - holistically - for the actions of their elected leadership. It doesn't matter if they dont vote (I believe they have one of the lowest voting rates in the world) - they particpate then by non-action but this makes the individuals no less responsible. This assumed, Americans themselves have a lot to answer for - karmically if you will. Lets zip past the major wars and look at Africa - in South Africa specifically - the American Governement supported Apartheid for decades (as the ANC was communist-supported so as a part of the cold war the US supported the Apartheid governement - finacially, politically, etc), ok. But then at the end of that age - with the elections in the mid-90's the American representatives to South Africa had the gall to celebrate the replacement of the old governement and make speaches about how glorious a new democracy would be. I remember one speech where an American actually said that South Africans would now learn - as Americans had - the fruits of living with equality! All the feedback I've every heard from Americans is that predjudice in America is far worse than in SA. Subsequently I met a few Americans sticking their noses in the "Reconstruction" of the country, and they were all - without exception - arrogant, over-inflated and blinkered. African Americans in particular, stepping foot on African soil for the first time, would act as if they had all the answers to the problems of their "brothers and sisters" - without even asking a single question of the people they proposed to "assist". It continues today. US Aid supplies grants to Africa, but more than 60% of the funds allocated must be spent on US resources - staff or equipment etc. They are truly the most self-serving cultural force I have ever encountered.
Perhaps its a fault of education. After this first collission with too many americans in the same space, I delved into net-culture. As a newbie to chat-rooms and the like, I soon learnt to "spot the American". In a general ASL questionaire, the Americans will always cite the town they live in. Never the state or - God forbid - the country - just the town. Like EVERYONE will know where THAT is! Sheeesh! Their genuine shock at any other planet-dweller even knowing what a computer was was so prevalent I soon sought out American-free or reduced chat sites just to avoid the irritation of the overbearing arrogance of that race of people. I've often felt that if we cut America off the planet and sent it off into space that the world would indeed be a happier place. Then the Americans would be content in their belief that no-one else outside their borders truly exists or even matters, and we could all get on with the business of living in the world without the blackmailing IMF or the strangehold on the gold price (does anyone have any idea how the US Congress's suppression of the gold price for over 30 years caused such immense poverty and devastation in developing countries in Africa? Just cause they dont have much gold and the USSR does? Does the end justify the means?) Well to America as a nation it always seems to - and the karmic weight of that must be bourne by Americans as a mass of individuals.

I fight poverty and disempowerment in each working day - with every breath if you will, just about as hard as I fight predjudice, but it is so incredibly difficult to look into the face of an American and not allow the immense human suffering and insufferable arrogance of a nation that chooses to remain ignorant of the consequences of their ignorance - to cloud my view of the human being before me. Expecially when what they would be capable of - were they to loose their self-importance and their distain for the inherent wisdom of any other people of this planet - could be of such immense value to the peace and healing of this injured world.

There have however been outstanding individuals - as in all cultures - that help to counterbalance the impression left by the elected representatives and emmisaries of America, and Hollywood further exaggerates these superior examples of humankind . . . . and therein lies the dicotomy of global perception. Give me an hour with Richard Gere ANYTIME! Or Oprah or Matin Luther King . . . but I'd rather be picking aphids out of the roses than spend a minute with an "American". Go figure??

Whoa! how can you type so mutch? thats amazing!
cheers
ford

Thanks Ford , I have a few moderate talents but brevity was never amonst them .

Keep passing open windows
Kosh

and as you pass those windows be sure to not look in them for someone is bound to be naked watching tv
cheers
ford<cheers?

and as you pass those windows be sure to not look in them for someone is bound to be naked watching tv
cheers
ford

I'll take your word for it.

Koshana, you wouldn't be a fellow BASPA graduate would you ?
Mox

its true! once we were passing this dudes house and we glanced at his window and he was buck nacked!
cheers
ford

Now there's an interesting thought . . . does anyone actually ever watch tv naked? Other than in bedrooms that is? Or am I being hopelessly naive? Be gentle now - I'm sub-saharan after all!

I'm afraid I dont even know what BAPSA is mox. Though now you've uncovered an ignorance I'll be on a mission to find out! Afraid I'm not even sure how extravagant an ignorance I'm guilty of here . . . a pointer perhaps?

Ok then! Asked and answered! Well i guess it takes all types eh?

Only minor ignorance. I thought I recognised those ranting’s as those of a social policy/ social work graduate. They were very familiar or perhaps everyone I mix with has the same sorts of ranting’s , who knows

I´ve just read post 123.Koshana, You seem to cover all the aspects of why americans aren´t always loved around the world... Well written.

It is a pity that they most of the time take themselves so seriously.





Izzybelle

We do?
cheers
ford

Oh yeah, one more thing....

The 'you're either for us or against us' thing. I know this is linked to one American in particular, but there is a general element to this in the way that many (but not all) Americans deal with non-Americans. If people advise me against a certain course of action or criticise my behaviour or attitude towards something, it doesn't mean that they're "anti-Otto". On the contrary, sometimes it takes your best friends to tell you what you need to hear.

Some Americans respond to any criticism of any aspect of American behaviour (either individuals or the government) as a criticism of everything about America, even when it's not meant as such.

I've finally finished reading the b/log. I will return with some comments after I've had some sleep.

Why is everyone goin to sleep? the night is young!
cheers
ford

Otto is onto something in n° 137: Americans have, (or used to have) a very critical eye on their society and government, but won't tolerate outsiders (I am considered one) offering the same criticisms.

At the same time they are capable of outrageous remarks about other countries. I hear Americans at the local International School say things like, "who would want to live in this neighborhood?" (very nice to hear for those who do!); or "It's impossible to drive in this town, and I'm certainly not going to take public transport, it's so smelly!" All this said into a microphone in front of 200 people of all nationalities!

That may be excuseable for new arrivals; they're not likely to get any more tolerant. More gems:

"I thought the courses would be all in English (even for Italians, Poles, Germans, Spanish, Japanese...?) ; I don't WANT my kids to learn French, we're only here for 18 months." (now THAT's the kind of travelling that opens minds!)

At the local American Club we have two types: those here more or less permanently (usually mixed families), and the families here on business for 1 or 2 years. They can be very nice, and they are usually happy to be in France, if only to see the old stones, but you can't get them interested in meeting French people; they don't see the club as a stepping stone between cultures (its actual intent), but as a bubble where they can make American friends and not mix with locals.

I don't feel the reason for this is arrogance, rather the opposite. Americans conversing with europeans of similar socio-economic status quickly suffer from an inferior level of general culture. They don't know Picasso from Matisse, Romanesque from Gothic. They have been educated, unfortunately only educated to make money.

Above all they don't speak French, whereas the Europeans they are conversing with obviously speak English, and probably 1 or 2 other languages.

That's why foreign languages are so important. First, they open your mind. Second, they are a real accomplishment that makes you feel good about yourself. Many Americans see foreign languages as something they simply cannot do, like playing the violin or going to the moon. Rubbish, it's simple.! Even babies do it!