History
Travel, like many things, is much easier if you can see the situation from another person’s viewpoint. Why an American would go to another country and expect everyone to speak English is beyond my understanding. “Why didn’t you understand me, I’m talking loudly (in English)? Are you stupid?” I think that EFO got it right. All too often it is “Here I am, stupid American”. It seems to be a problem with a general American attitude that we are so ego-centric that we don’t realize that in a reversed situation – someone from Germany in the middle of a mall speaking German and expecting immediate results – would be considered impossibly rude. Every time I have been in another country (admittedly not too often), I have made an attempt to speak the language and it is always welcomed.
Americans have a very short view of history. 50 years ago was a long time. Old is 100 years old. In England, an old castle needs a new roof every couple of hundred years. I think that this is a major contribution to our bizarre foreign policy. We have gone from a backwoods territory to the world’s most visible superpower in about 300 years. In that time, we have committed genocide, accepted slavery, encouraged child labor, spurned unwed mothers in an attempt to apply our morals to the general population, had our own form of apartheid, kept women from voting or owning land, jailed citizens in prison camps without charge, devastated our natural resources for progress and many other offenses. Many or most of which we now are appalled to see around the world in countries aspiring to reach for our level of economic success.
China uses child labor and we are appalled. Look back 70 years.
Brazil is burning rain forests. So, we strip mine.
South Africa had apartheid, look at the 1950s separate but equal.
Women don’t have rights in the Middle East. When did women get the vote in the U.S. 1920s? When did women have the same expectations for college in the U.S. as men?
If we got rich trashing our and the world’s environment, why shouldn’t another country? Maybe we should be paying them to not destroy the rain forests as part of our foreign policy. Maybe our foreign policy should include premiums for clothing not made by children. Not saying that they can’t do it, but rewarding those who do. Individuals do this by boycotting brands that are not socially responsible or buying hardwoods that are grown as renewable resources so the idea is out there.
Americans have a very short view of history. 50 years ago was a long time. Old is 100 years old. In England, an old castle needs a new roof every couple of hundred years. I think that this is a major contribution to our bizarre foreign policy. We have gone from a backwoods territory to the world’s most visible superpower in about 300 years. In that time, we have committed genocide, accepted slavery, encouraged child labor, spurned unwed mothers in an attempt to apply our morals to the general population, had our own form of apartheid, kept women from voting or owning land, jailed citizens in prison camps without charge, devastated our natural resources for progress and many other offenses. Many or most of which we now are appalled to see around the world in countries aspiring to reach for our level of economic success.
China uses child labor and we are appalled. Look back 70 years.
Brazil is burning rain forests. So, we strip mine.
South Africa had apartheid, look at the 1950s separate but equal.
Women don’t have rights in the Middle East. When did women get the vote in the U.S. 1920s? When did women have the same expectations for college in the U.S. as men?
If we got rich trashing our and the world’s environment, why shouldn’t another country? Maybe we should be paying them to not destroy the rain forests as part of our foreign policy. Maybe our foreign policy should include premiums for clothing not made by children. Not saying that they can’t do it, but rewarding those who do. Individuals do this by boycotting brands that are not socially responsible or buying hardwoods that are grown as renewable resources so the idea is out there.