California Dreaming.....

HI All

Sorry about the lack of updates, sort of getting quite busy with the whole Los Angeles thing. My next update will be of the dynamic constructive type. But, for all the students out there who don't want to be working and need revision diversion, I have pretty much the biggest blog entry ever to come. I think it's quite a good one though, so work with me...

So, stereotypically, America is famous for being insular, and being unable to see beyond its own borders. It is with sadness I have to say that on the whole this is very true. What I didn't quite understand is to what degree the insularity it is. People I have spoken to have not only not been out of America, but, in many cases not even out of the state. Also, another thing that needs to be pointed out is that I cannot really even get angry about it. It's not intentional ignorance, it just.. is really. The fallout however is often hilarious.

One such example of this is the 'Multicultural Awareness Committee'. Essentially this is the title for double sided placard in a prominent place on the UCLA campus. It is alongside a good number of other society adverts, that range from everything to stopping the War in Iraq, to free movie screenings, to finding god within ourselves, to Dance revolution societies. Everything really.

This particular placard was set up by some obviously well intentioned UCLA students, to introduce students to the possibility of a world outside out the confides of America. It is decorated in different flags of the world as a border, and the center of each side of the placard has an 'Amazing cultural fact'. So far, so good. However, when talking of being multi cultural, America stumbles and falls very quickly.

One one side of the placard was the 'amazing fact';
"Did you know in England the Queen sends a telegram when you are 105!"

and the other side had the 'amazing fact' of;
"Did you know that in Tibet, people rub rancid yak fat over their bodies to keep themselves warm in Winter?"

Needless to say, over the next few days, the poster became severely defaced. Let's start with the first amazing fact;
1) It was first noted by one graffitist that you didn't need to be 105, but instead 100.
2) It was not only restricted to England, but instead to the Commonwealth.

So, for a country that America apparently refers to as an ally basic, simple facts had been fundamentally poorly researched, possibly on Wikipedia on some similar website.

The other side was defaced in a similar vein. People picked up on the fact that the word 'rancid' suggested that Tibetans were inferior. One angry member of the public felt obliged to write an asterisk next to the statement proclaiming "Whereas we use third world slaves to keep us warm"

So, a total mis fact, and slander. Oops. Two weeks after 'The multicultural awareness committee' realized their folly, they instead went down the much safer path of talking about how many sub divisions there were in a country that even the most avid Geography student would not have been able to identity. The fact that they repeated this 'amazing' fact on both sides of the placard illustrates, I feel, an understanding of the criticisms levied against the project.

This should have been an end of the whole sordid saga, however, last week it rained, washing away the ink of the new amazing facts, and revealing the old amazing facts underneath. (In the past two days, someone has cut out some headlines from the UCLA newspaper which say 'recycle me now', and placed them onto the placard. The calls have so far not been answered)

Whilst this is perhaps the most symbolic example of just how insular America is, there are examples on a daily basis. Here are just a few examples;

David; Oh, so have you ever traveled to Europe?
UCLA Student; I have not even been outside of California
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UCLA Student; So whats the weather like in Germany at the moment?
German Student; Its Winter
UCLA Student; So it's winter in South Africa?
South African Student; No, because of the hemispheres, its Summer there
UCLA Student; No way! Summer!? That's crazy! What's it like in Australia?
(and so on)
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UCLA Student; And so Sherlock Holmes goes to this place just on the outskirts of London
(She was in fact making reference to the YORKSHIRE MOORES)
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By far my favorite however was in my African American studies class, when we were discussing the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts;

UCLA Student; 'Yeah, its terrible the way they dealt with it (in reference to the US Govt) I heard that there was this really poor country in Europe that's like prepared for floods all the time.

Professor; That's Holland. I have been to Europe a lot, Holland is not a poor country.

Glad we got that one sorted then.

Like I say though, its not that these people are thick or ignorant, its just a total incapability to see beyond its own borders. When you take this mentality into account, its easy to see why the USA consumes natural resources at an alarming rate. Global warming? Its not happening to us right here right now! (As one pretty big advertising campaign over here right now is saying) 'I want my MPG!!'