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Day 13 - Somewhere you’d like to move or visit.
i don't really know. lately i've just wanted to leave. i'm becoming more and more disgusted by the american sense of entitlement, the "gimmie gimmie" mentality and the firm belief that you're right no matter what, and you'll fight to the death to back your belief (even if proven completely wrong). i'm not saying there aren't good people here, they're just hideously outnumbered.
i guess given the option, i'd want to go someplace anthropologically interesting, something completely out of my social realm (and not in the autistic way). justin and i have been watching anthony bourdain's "no reservations" because he is a confessed food addict and i really have no opinion as to what we watch for the most part. while justin is oooing and aaaahing at the food, i've actually been really amazed and interested in the cultural aspects of the show. we watched one last night where tony went to malaysia and had to hike up a mountain to a small village. he did this because he didn't want to see the commercial/tourist side of things, but the actual people and culture. when he got to the village it was customary that the visitor to the tribe had to slaughter the pig for their feast by running it through with a spear. while this was really disturbing (they didn't show it, but you heard it), i thought it enunciated the cultural aspect of the show and i found that endlessly interesting. there was also an episode where he was in beirut in july 2006. if you recall, this is when hezbollah took two israeli soldiers hostage and killed 3 more sparking one hell of a firestorm. just before this happened, he was walking down the street with his guide who's talking about how lebanon was in a sort of renaissance and so full of life. then, almost like it was planned, hezbollah supporters begin to flood down the street out of seemingly nowhere, screaming and cheering about the capture of the israeli soldiers. tony turns to the guide at some point afterward and his face had totally dropped, then he said that he knew war was coming next. i can't imagine living like that, knowing that at any given moment war could break out in my country, and the rest of the episode isn't so much about food, but about the shocked point of view of tony and his staff after israel bombs the airport, leaving anyone who was a visitor stranded.
its not that i want to experience a war-torn nation or crippling poverty looking for a novel experience to write home about, i just feel that we as americans are culturally deprived. we're so busy with our McThis and microsoft that, i feel that we lost sight of what is important in life. we're so busy getting into petty political arguments and filibustering whatever we don't agree with because we MUST win, that we've lost sight of the fact that its a pretty awesome thing that we're even allowed to do so. that we can sleep at night knowing we won't be awaken by air raid sirens, or that our nation isn't constantly teetering on the brink of invasion - hell - even having clean, running water are all things that i think are taken for granted. i guess what this all boils down to is that wherever i visit, wherever my travels hypothetically take me, i'd want to construct a more accurate world view, and understand life from a completely abstract (comparatively) viewpoint.
but i'm also on 3 hours sleep, so who knows.
i don't really know. lately i've just wanted to leave. i'm becoming more and more disgusted by the american sense of entitlement, the "gimmie gimmie" mentality and the firm belief that you're right no matter what, and you'll fight to the death to back your belief (even if proven completely wrong). i'm not saying there aren't good people here, they're just hideously outnumbered.
i guess given the option, i'd want to go someplace anthropologically interesting, something completely out of my social realm (and not in the autistic way). justin and i have been watching anthony bourdain's "no reservations" because he is a confessed food addict and i really have no opinion as to what we watch for the most part. while justin is oooing and aaaahing at the food, i've actually been really amazed and interested in the cultural aspects of the show. we watched one last night where tony went to malaysia and had to hike up a mountain to a small village. he did this because he didn't want to see the commercial/tourist side of things, but the actual people and culture. when he got to the village it was customary that the visitor to the tribe had to slaughter the pig for their feast by running it through with a spear. while this was really disturbing (they didn't show it, but you heard it), i thought it enunciated the cultural aspect of the show and i found that endlessly interesting. there was also an episode where he was in beirut in july 2006. if you recall, this is when hezbollah took two israeli soldiers hostage and killed 3 more sparking one hell of a firestorm. just before this happened, he was walking down the street with his guide who's talking about how lebanon was in a sort of renaissance and so full of life. then, almost like it was planned, hezbollah supporters begin to flood down the street out of seemingly nowhere, screaming and cheering about the capture of the israeli soldiers. tony turns to the guide at some point afterward and his face had totally dropped, then he said that he knew war was coming next. i can't imagine living like that, knowing that at any given moment war could break out in my country, and the rest of the episode isn't so much about food, but about the shocked point of view of tony and his staff after israel bombs the airport, leaving anyone who was a visitor stranded.
its not that i want to experience a war-torn nation or crippling poverty looking for a novel experience to write home about, i just feel that we as americans are culturally deprived. we're so busy with our McThis and microsoft that, i feel that we lost sight of what is important in life. we're so busy getting into petty political arguments and filibustering whatever we don't agree with because we MUST win, that we've lost sight of the fact that its a pretty awesome thing that we're even allowed to do so. that we can sleep at night knowing we won't be awaken by air raid sirens, or that our nation isn't constantly teetering on the brink of invasion - hell - even having clean, running water are all things that i think are taken for granted. i guess what this all boils down to is that wherever i visit, wherever my travels hypothetically take me, i'd want to construct a more accurate world view, and understand life from a completely abstract (comparatively) viewpoint.
but i'm also on 3 hours sleep, so who knows.
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Part of the problem in America, I think, is that we don't even *have* a cultural background. We almost completely eradicated it 200 years ago in one of the most successful genocide campaigns the world has ever known. Without a common background, the "melting pot" concept let us a hot mess, with little to nothing to feel we share with the "other" next door.
It probably also doesn't help that Europe spent decade after decade after decade using North America as a dumping ground for all their undesireable religious zealots. ;)
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and yeah, we really don't have a culture. there are some people that try to respect their individual backgrounds but that has nothing to do with our culture overall. i agree, the "melting pot" has become a hot mess, lol. if anything *could* be considered our culture, its our ridiculous media and the sociocultural influence it has on our people. its created an army of consumer zombies...