Re: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...

On May 7, 5:18=A0pm, wdst...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (William December Starr) wrote:
> In article <btfs141vp51b0fav3borgt8mab13arf...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> mike weber <fairport...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> said:
>
> > On Sun, 04 May 2008 13:03:27 -0700, David Friedman
> > <d...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> >> Of course it's true that most Americans don't know a lot about
> >> the culture of other countries--but then most people in the world
> >> don't know a lot about the culture of countries other than their
> >> own.
>
> > Which pretty defines "insularity", even if you don't have an
> > island handy.
>
> Hm. =A0Should intention be part of the definition? =A0I've always
> thought of insularity as including some degree of _desire_ to be
> "insulated" from Those Other People Over There. =A0Does it count if it
> just happens by default?

People can fail to learn about other cultures for several reasons;

First, they may know the 'furriners' are different, but not be
interested.

Second, they may know they're different, but be sure that if the
foreigners just learned more about *our* enlightened culture, they'd
instantly want to become more like us. So why learn about their
clearly inferior ways?

Third, they may not even be aware that they *are* different in certain
ways.

I grew up as an American expatriate in Europe, spending 13 years in 6
countries. I hope it gave me a more cosmopolitan outlook on this than
most Americans.

Last week I got back from a long trip to Disneyworld (not my preferred
vacation, but the rest of the family loved it). At Epcot, we visited
most
of the country pavilions.

I noted that my opinion of the quality of the different country sites
varied inversely with how well I knew the real thing. Countries I knew
pretty well (France, Britain) seemed utterly cliched 'Disney
Versions',
those I had visited only as a tourist (Norway, Mexico, Canada,
Morocco)
seemed 'ok but a little off'. Countries I hadn't visited (China,
Japan)
seemed the best (I wasn't expecting, and didn't see, any negative
info presented about either).

If it weren't for The Economist and the BBC World Service, I think
I'd go stir-crazy.