Oh my...this George Carlin montage reminds me of when I was in High School and, The Ugly American, was required reading for one of my Social Studies classes. After living in an Asian country, Taiwan, for almost three years and having a father who served two tours in Vietnam this was a hard read...
The Ugly American was published in 1958, just when the Americans were physically getting involved in the Vietnam war. It gives a very unpleasant view of Americans abroad in that we do not understand the culture and do not even attempt to. Our own State Department officials do not speak the language and are incapable of winning the hearts or helping the people. They are arrogant and are only concerned with the quality of their living quarters and making appearance for higher ranking officials from Washington.
This was not an easy book for me to read being a Military dependant because I was (and still am) aware of how lucky we were to be traveling and living all over the world. Especially, while living in Taiwan in 1968, I was incredibly aware of the advantages we had because we were the Rich Americans. All of the "locals" (that's what we called them) were extremely friendly and welcomed us in their country. After all, the public opinion was that we were their saviors because we backed their revolutionary leader, Chiang Kai-shek against Communist China. Of course now I know that Communist Russia was backing China...it really makes you wonder about the American's intent! All of this soon changed though in 1971, when Nixon took office and befriended China. China then demanded that the United Nations recognize Taiwan as the "Republic of China" and not as a separate nation and that they be removed from the assembly body of United Nations accordingly.
As Rich Americans we lived on "the economy" (military lingo for not living in base housing ;) where my parents rented a large house. There was no fear of being harmed, as young kids, and we were free to ride the buses and take cabs all over the neighborhood. We never felt out of place, even though we could not speak the language...it didn't matter because all of the locals COULD SPEAK ENGLISH. I remember riding the bus one day and a man was reciting our Declaration of Independence to me and my sister. When he was done, he asked us if he made any mistakes...we were too embarrassed to tell him that we didn't know it or that we were not even required to learn it in! We had a maid, Aug-Kee and a yard-boy, Charlie who were at our home 5 days a week if my parents needed them. We had our clothes hand-made by tailors and our hair done weekly at the beauty salon...my mom, however went four times a week. Yep...we lived the good life...we were Rich Americans!
However, as my sister, our friends, and I would wander, we would visit all the little villages and got to see just how the locals lived...it was eye-opening to say the least! We found their homes to be small with one, maybe two rooms, with little to-no furniture and sleeping mats on the floor. All the homes were part of a communal village where they shared common showers, toilets and kitchens. These villages consisted of generations of inter-related families, sometimes with hundreds of members, who all shared the responsibility for providing food and utilities. NO one owned cars and bicycles were the typical mode of individual-transportation...otherwise you used public trains and buses. School was required by the government, and children attended 7 days a week, year-round until they were done up to secondary levels. Only those children who excelled in their elementary studies were allowed to go forward to higher studies and to technical college...the rest stayed home and helped their families in their business and/or farms. Capital or corporal punishment was expected and petty theft and crimes were not tolerated amongst the villages...however stealing from the Rich Americans was tolerated...especially our bicycles ;)
Now, in the post 9/11 world, The Ugly American is worth a fresh look. Are we going to do as poor a job in the Arab world as we did in Southeast Asia nearly 50 years ago. Do we speak Arabic? Are we spending the time and effort learning about the culture, needs and dreams of the people in that part of the world? I believe that there is hope...but first we have to hear the harsh truth about what is wrong with the United States and our corporate-operated Government. Being Rich Americans doesn't make us any smarter or better...just very complacent!
Wow, what an amazing post two thumbs way up... I am definitely going to read that book! I really appreciate your point of view and you taking the time to write this post... Thank-You
Posted by: Mitchell | 08/24/2010 at 02:13 PM
Wow, this really gets you thinking...must be a conspiracy!
Posted by: Debra Bunker | 08/24/2010 at 07:06 PM