[OT] National Pride?

[Mercule]

Talking about culture shock w/in the US:

I'm a midwesterner (Iowa), and when I deal with people from the East (New York) or West (LA), there is much more of a bias than when I talk to people from other countries. The US coasts seem to have this image of the Midwest as hickish and uneducated, whereas a German (for instance) simply sees an American.

For my part, I don't understand what non-Midwesterners survive on. You can't get a decent cut of meat in California to save your life, and here in Iowa we feed better grain to our animals than they serve for Christmas dinner.

That, and how can they stand to live so close? Growing up, I needed binoculars to see my neighbor's house. It took me about 3 days to feel _very_ claustrophobic when I was out a San Francisco for a bit.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I may as well chip in with my 2cp as well...

I agree with Morrus largely. Going to France for a weekend felt much more 'foreign' than visiting my brother in Virginia for two weeks. The French are That funny lot across the channel whereas Americans are Those funny fat people that we see on TV all the time

[please note, those are there to indicate I'm really not serious about either of those comments]

I love the States. I've always had a good holiday there, and it amuses the family to see how 'Americanised' my brother Mark is becoming. (Example: He met his now-wife in the Car-ri-BE-an, but now he says they met in the car-RIB-ean )

I've visited the Carribean, various bits of Spain and Portugal, Scotland, Wales, the USA several times, and France. And out of all of those, going to France felt the most different to England.

But yes, it is wonderful sometimes to look around and see that that building over there has been there for 200 years, or that the pub you went to after Dragonmeet 2000 was erected in 1788 or something. That's when I appreciate home the most.

Oh, and the chance to go visit castles. Big, impressive castles

 

[larfinia]

Going to France for a weekend felt much more 'foreign' than visiting my brother in Virginia for two weeks. The French are That funny lot across the channel whereas Americans are Those funny fat people that we see on TV all the time

[please note, those are there to indicate I'm really not serious about either of those comments]

But yes, it is wonderful sometimes to look around and see that that building over there has been there for 200 years, or that the pub you went to after Dragonmeet 2000 was erected in 1788 or something. That's when I appreciate home the most.

Oh, and the chance to go visit castles. Big, impressive castles

Ive never actually been to states so i cant comment there but i completeley agree about france feeling foreign yet there is less than 30 miles seperating our countries. But i like the difference and the change of culture and i regularly go to france(every year) because its different.

But thats just my little personal opinion.

i also agree there is something nice about the old buildings and the feeling of history, it sure does make you appreciate home.

And i 2nd the comment about Castles, Big mega impressive castles!

 

[Frostmarrow]

Definietly different from Germany. You might see the national flag on some public buildings on Reunification Day (our national holiday), but that's about it. Putting the German flag up in your garden or hanging it from your window will get you some very odd looks...

It's the same thing in Sweden. Patriot is not a good thing to be. (Alright it's okay to have the flag on a flagpole in the garden but that's about it.)

In Sweden we still use our old currency. Sometimes I think that we Swedes have more in common with America that with Europe. Naturally we feel almost at home in Norway, Finland or Denmark but apart from than that Europe is pretty foreign. (This might not be the case for people who live further south than I do.)

I was in Australia a couple of years ago and that felt like being at home. However when I was in southern France everything was surreal. I can't really explain it but that is how I experienced it. Even the northern parts of Germany where downright scary. Everything was different. I found Britain to be different but not strangely so. The beer in Vienna tasted banana. The Netherlands were pretty strange but it was pretty easy to get a hold on that country. It's one of my favorite countries now. You've go to love their extreme liberalism (or perhaps not). I've never been to America but I suspect it's like portrayed in that film with Giovanni Ribisi, Suburbia.

 

[Wormwood]

I've never been to America but I suspect it's like portrayed in that film with Giovanni Ribisi, Suburbia.

Judging America by American films is almost as misguided as forming an opinion of Europe from American films.

 

[LcKedovan]

Zappo brings up another point - mass transit is far more common in Europe than the U.S. - We think it nothing to go 100 miles to another city or state to visit friends - yet that's a LOT of fuel by, say UK or Italy standards. Americans pay anywhere from $1.35 to $2.00 per gallon - Europeans pay the equivalent of - what - $5.00 per gallon? If I paid that much per gallon, I couldn't even afford to go to work from where I live! I make a 70 mile (about 112 km) round trip each day to go to work.

I just paid 54 € for a weekend trip that was 2.5 hours so 5 hours both ways, which is pretty steep. Mind you, mass transit like trains to other countries are often just as expensive to fly.

Cheers, Will

 

[LcKedovan]

I do have to say that people who have never ever traveled outside their Country are missing out in a lot. In fact I feel that people that never got out of their "native environment" (that could include Texans going to the north I suppose) will more likely be limited in their views of the world and understanding of different people and themselves.

I could not agree more, my view has always been that if people travelled when younger the world would be a much better place.

-W.

 

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Many here have spoken about the cultural differences between the different parts of America. As an Australian I feel that I cannot comment on, or provide first-hand experience, but I believe that the best source on this topic is Joel Garreau's "The Nine Nations of North America".

"Forget the pious wisdom you've been handed about North America.
Forget the borders dividing the United States, Canada, and Mexico, those pale barriers so thoroughly porous to money, immigrants, and ideas.

Forget the bilge you were taught in sixth-grade geography about East and West, North and South, faint echoes of glorious pasts that never really existed save in sanitized textbooks.

Forget the maze of state and provincial boundaries, those historical accidents and surveyors' mistakes. The reason no one except the trivia expert can name all fifty of the United States is that they hardly matter.

Forget the political almanacs full of useless data on local elections rendered meaningless by strangely carved districts and precincts.

Consider, instead, the way North America really works. It is Nine Nations. Each with its capital and distinctive web of power and influence.... These nations look different, feel different, and sound different from each other, and few of their boundaries match the political lines drawn on current maps....

Most importantly, each nation has a distinctive prism through which it views the world."

[Garreau, pp. 1-2]

For more (albeit basic) information about some of the points raised in the book try http://www.harpercollege.edu/~mhealy/g101ilec/namer/nac/nacnine/na9intro/nacninfr.htm , though it's well worth glancing through the book itself. Be warned however - it was written in 1981 and is probably a bit out of date.

Now returning to the country that I know and love/hate ("So don't sing me your anthem/ when you don't know the words/ Words are hard to remember when they mean nothing at all" - Weddings, Parties, Anything) - Australia, currently undiscussed.

As an island nation, with no land borders, our closest neighbour (New Zealand) being culturally near-identical, a government that seems insistent upon retaining our aloofness and non-commital status in the region (the Asia-Pacific/Australasia), and a Prime Minister who seems more intent on slavishly following the lead of the President-in-Thief than developing an independent foreign policy, Australians are prime candidates for the non-travelling peoples of the world.

But somehow the idea of the Aussie Backpacker is prime, we have some of the greatest international sportspeople in the world (IIRC at least one of the top ten competitors in each of the world's 50 most popular sports is an Australian) the heads of some of the world's biggest corporations (John Pizzey is next in line for the top job at the world's biggest mining company, Pittsburg-based Alcoa; James Gorman is the Melbourne lawyer who has just been appointed head of Merrill Lynch's US private client group; Charlie Bell is now next in line at McDonalds, proving you don't have to go to university to make it on the global business stage; Douglas Daft is at the top of Coke; Geoffrey Bible running Philip Morris; Jac Nasser scoring the top job at Ford are examples (more will probably be found at www.crikey.com.au over the next week).

An Australian was mixed up with British political troubles recently (Peter Foster, anyone) and we now get the easiest run to the World Cup Soccer than any other country in the world (bring on Trindad & Tobago, we can take them!). Our scientists have given the world the bionic ear, the stump-jump plough, the world's first teleport device (all right we only moved a photon. Better than anyone else though!). Great beaches, awesome scenery (as soon as we can stop the governmetn knocking it al down...) and more venomous creatures than any comparable place on earth!

It's well worth going here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A12295 - for more humourous information.

 

[hong]

I was in Australia a couple of years ago and that felt like being at home.

Indeed, in the deep midnight of the Austrian winter, the sparkling, snow-covered expanses of the Southern Alps, with their coniferous koala trees and herds of migrating kangaroos crossing the frozen wastes of Sydney Harbour can seem like a true Scandinavian fairyland to our overseas visitors.


Hong "the beer isn't too bad either" Ooi

 

[mythusmage]

Maybe, maybe not; there's certainly serious differences in what's easy to get. You see a lot more Mexican and Asian influence in San Diego than you do in Boston (though you get a lot of seafood in either city, of course). And there are a lot of chain restraunts that just don't exist in certain regions.

Or Mexican seafood, as sold by the Rubio's chain.

Then you have 'Bertos. Robertos, Alibertos, etc. ad naseum. For awhile we were all convinced 'Bertos would take over the city. (Some sort of plot by anti-diarhea medicine manufacturers. In the realm of Mexican food there is the real thing, Taco Bell, and 'Bertos.)

Then you've got the blends. Mexican pizza for example. Around here the philosohy seems to be, "We're out of pizza sauce and pepperoni? Let's try it with curry and tuna."

Let us continue on the local history. Its not that we don't have a history, it's just that it's younger than European. The locals were not much on recording things before the Spaniards came, and even afterward this was pretty much a backwater. Even today we're known mostly for our zoo.

Now add in the "We're not LA" factor. We're proud of the fact we're not LA. We have scenery, they have smog. We have a zoo, they have Hollywood (not much difference there, really). Los Angeles is an east count town plopped down on the west coast, San Diego is a mid-west town that made a wrong turn on the 94. LA has dozens of cultural icons it's proud of. SD has dozens of cultural icons it would much rather not admit to.

You did ask about cultural diversity.

The big difference between the Beast Coast and the Best Coast? Out east they talk about travel distance, on the west we talk about travel time.

(Night life in Chula Vista is 6 beers and skittles. Night life in National City has 6 legs and scuttles.)