You're going where?
posted August 17, 2006 - 3:43pmWhen I first uttered the words "I'm moving to Prague" to several family members I received a list of responses that truly showed their ignorance.
One aunt stated, "That's in Russia right?"
"No the Czech Republic," I said.
"Oh...Czechloslovakia." Notice, she did not even get the name of that country right.
"Not for about ten years now."
Then another said, 'you know, they're communist over there."
"Well, they were communist and I'm sure there are still some lurking about. You know we have communists here right?"
"There aren't any communists in America!" A reality check is sorely needed here.
Yet another relative simply said, "Where?"
"Prague, it's the capitol of the Czech Republic."
"Where's that?"
"Europe. It's between Poland and Austria."
"Is that near Spain?"
"Closer than we are."
How can it be that citizens of the country who has appointed itself Protector of Democracy and World Police know so little about the rest of the world? Is it simply apathy or is it a deeper problem stemming from the educational system.
Perhaps Americans simply don't care about the rest of the world. Many of my students here chalk it up to the fact that America is so large people don't ever really need to leave the country.
But I don't think that's enough. I think everyone there needs to understand that Americans are not the only people on the planet. As a matter of fact they're not even a majority of the people on the planet. When my students ask me what Americans think of the world I do the following.
I draw my terrible map of North America. Then I draw an arrow east and an arrow west. Above the west arrow I write "Ninjas, Samurai, Godzilla" and above the east arrow I write "Castles, knights, dragons," and I simply leave it at that.
Of course it's a broad generalization and it's not meant to represent everyone. Because no one image can represent everyone of a given group.
It's just a joke... or is it?
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Granted, ignorance of the
Granted, ignorance of the world outside of the country is indeed a part of American culture. But what, I think, you fail to realize is that I too am an American. As for being tuned in; it's easy enough to turn off the television I agree. It's also easy to take an interest in the world around us and search for less sensationalistic news outlets that are focused on the story and not on making something of nothing.
The borders of the countries in the European Union, including the Czech Republic, have been stabilized for years. The only thing that has been happening is that diverse nationalities and cultures that have previously been lumped together in one country have decided to rediscover their cultural heritages and in doing so have amicably separated with the others. That is the case of the Czech and Slovak Republics who split in 1993, 13 years ago for those keeping track.
Recently Serbia and Montenegro have decided to split as well.
Think about this, what if something happened and Canada and America were lumped into one country, or Canada, America and Mexico? There would probably be some tension and some identity crises in the members of the societies.
Side notes:
The Czech Republic was never part of a -stan. It was part of Czechoslovakia which was only a combination of the names of the two cultures.
The -stan countries and the Serbian countries are thousands of miles apart. The Czech Republic would technically be classified as Slavonic.
You're right many Americans don't care...
I'm opting for part of Ken's post and part that the American culture is not trained to tune into the news and are also not thoroughly educated in world geography. We get so much negativity from the media that we turn off our tube rather than turn it on. I have learned from research and personal British friends that the British are a culture much more geared towards the news, what goes on in other parts of the world, and their geography. So part of my reply to you is that ignorance appears to be partly a culture thing. By the way Ken, loved your post.
Boy, oh, boy, that post did
Boy, oh, boy, that post did make your point.
It reminds me of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" I was waiting for a bus, and it was playing on the TV. The question (not the million dollar question, but it was up there) was: "Which of the following is the capital city of Australia?" It gave the four choices, and the contestant was sweating bullets. He used his 50/50. Still he wasn't sure. So he asked the audience. Their pick: Sydney. And that's what he went with.
Not that it's the best analogue, but it does remind me of sitting there at the bus station, shaking my head.
Antonia Dwells
Thank you.
That's really funny considering the Czech state has been in existence for over 400 years. How long has your state been in existence? You illustrated my point perfectly and I thank you for that.
To further enlighten you, the Czech Republic makes the most advanced radar systems in the world and has always been technically adept and ahead of the times. As a matter of fact the U.S. has bought that particular radar system for use in this 'missile defense shield' program.
Americans don't know where
Americans don't know where the Czech Republic is for the same reason most other countries can't name where all the tribes in the African jungle reside: they don't matter. The former soviet union and the middle east are both so unstable that keeping track of who's got what border is like trying to keep track of which part of an amoeba is its head and which is its ass and in the end, who cares about a stupid amoeba's ass anyway? When Somestupidstan, the former Hismothersstan, previously part of the Union of Stans and Serbs, can do more than farm a goat and shoot people, I'll bother to know where its located.
Sad
I believe it is even deeper than that. I believe American just don't care about the rest of the world and what happens unless it affects them. Maybe this what you saying and I just didn't get it.
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