For the last year or so, I've had an on-and-off online pen-pal. He's exotic and German. I can tell you're all jealous. Well you should be, because of that exotic German business.
I like this international pen-pal thing. I get to learn. I get to learn about Germany, about Europe, about the rest of the world across the pond. I'm learning about the German education system, and how everyone must go through job training before starting work, whether they're a computer scientist or a baker. I'm learning that German college is a real bargain at 500 Euros a semester, but you have to go to a specific type of high school to get in, and if you don't finish your last year, you have to repeat the final three to be eligible for college.
One of the most valuable part of this is getting a sense of what some of the rest of the world thinks of Americans and this country. Granted, my source is a bit too rational, and concedes that while many Germans protest the U.S. and everything it stands for, a lot of these same people leave protests and go home and listen to Eminem and other fine, upstanding pillars of our society. Regardless...
It turns out that we can't keep too many secrets from our German friends. I found out one other disturbing disturbing fact today: Germany knows about Fox News. Our national dirty underwear is a bastion of neo conservative alarmists with only a passing acquaintance with fact and the world knows about it. I'm getting hit with hard questions like, "It's so obviously false. None of this is true. I can't believe anyone would ever believe any of this. They don't, do they?"
It's time to step it up. The world is watching, people.
2 comments:
I was hanging out at a summer institute with a bunch of Europeans...the basic explanation I gave went like this:
"If you look at a map of American states, you will notice that some of them border oceans, which are like water, so let's call them 'blue states.' For blue states, no, they don't believe that any of this is true. Also, they are against global warming and think religion is a silly reason to make policy. The states in the middle, however, tend to be hot and dry, so let's call them 'red states.' Red states are the cause of all the problems that the world has with America."
Wow, that last comment is ten levels of ridiculous. After all, my family lives on an ocean-bordering state. It's called New York. And they watch Fox News quite a bit. As does, say, North Carolina, I'm sure. I live in the midwest, but in a city that is the only one with a Muslim Congressperson. Because it's extremely liberal here.
As for ruling with or without religion, I find a lot of the very secular countries sad and scary, because they increase the hatred for the Western world with their oppression of immigrants from other areas and general xenophobia. I think we have problems with racial relations, but so does Europe, on a massive level. They just use different names for their racism.
Everybody's got problems. Lindsay Lohan gets press for doing things that other people have: crappy parents, drug addiction, and general poor choices. She happens to have lots of money and power, and so she makes the news. There are MANY, MANY women and men her age with the same problems here. It's just easier to follow what she does, because she's self-absorbed. But she's kind of been shaped that way.
Yes, we should be a better country. But before Europe points to the mote in our eye, they might want to check out the one in theirs.
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