Ship of Fools

[Pixilated]

Someday I'd like to take a cargo ship cruise.

[Seshat]

And it never fails to astound me how Americans cannot fathom exactly WHY the world hates us.

Iggerant behaviour is not limited to Americans. Until recently, America had a comparitively high degree of disposable income for the middle and upper-working classes, one saw more American tourists than tourists from anywhere else. This, naturally, meant that one saw more ignorant American tourists than ignorant <somewhere else> tourists ... and a stereotype gets started.

The other aspect is education systems. I've been around the internet for a while, as most of you know, and have chatted with people from all over the world.
It's only my personal experience and anecdotal evidence, but it seems that American education systems usually provide very little information on countries and cultures outside the USA. Whereas the rest of us are given a lot more geography, history, and comparitive culture as part of our general education.

I have found that if you're interested, polite, and willing to learn some basics (hello, goodbye, sorry but I don't speak much <language> yet, where are the bathrooms please?, please, thank you); people are very happy to share their culture with you.

[Fudgethatkay]

Iggerant behaviour is not limited to Americans. Until recently, America had a comparitively high degree of disposable income for the middle and upper-working classes, one saw more American tourists than tourists from anywhere else. This, naturally, meant that one saw more ignorant American tourists than ignorant <somewhere else> tourists ... and a stereotype gets started.

The other aspect is education systems. I've been around the internet for a while, as most of you know, and have chatted with people from all over the world.
It's only my personal experience and anecdotal evidence, but it seems that American education systems usually provide very little information on countries and cultures outside the USA. Whereas the rest of us are given a lot more geography, history, and comparitive culture as part of our general education.

I have found that if you're interested, polite, and willing to learn some basics (hello, goodbye, sorry but I don't speak much <language> yet, where are the bathrooms please?, please, thank you); people are very happy to share their culture with you.

As someone who is American and studies different languages and cultures, this is VERY VERY true

[celticgrl]

I had a similar experience when I cruised this year the group I sat with at dinner the first night were just rude little PITA's I couldn't get past how they acted when we were talking about what everybody did for a living and it got to me and I said I was retired from the Navy. All of sudden it was like they felt they had to talk down to me for me to understand their college education master degree having selves. I ate quickly and excused myself to go find the sports bar and watch the Celtics get thrashed by the Heat

[wolfie]

2. -- At the safety briefing, the lot of us stood around waiting, and waiting, and waiting... and waiting... until the people who were holding up the process were summoned by their individual cabin numbers. And then we waited some more... until three snobby girls strolled by with their noses in the air and drinks in their hands, taking their place and looking around with that unmistakable sense of entitlement that seemed to convey that we should have all been honored to wait for them.

I hope the late arrivals were a one-shot affair, rather than a standard event for cruises. If it was a regular situation, the cruise line could have handled it better:

5 minutes before briefing time: Announcement "The mandatory safety briefing is scheduled for 23:00 in $location".

Briefing time: Announcement "People from the following cabins are not at $location for the mandatory safety briefing. The briefing will start in 5 minutes, and anyone not in attendance will be disembarked without a refund".

5 minutes after briefing time: Announcement "The mandatory safety briefing is starting NOW. Those of you who are not present will be disembarked without a refund". Briefing starts. EWs who wasted everyone's time get booted off the ship.

It's only my personal experience and anecdotal evidence, but it seems that American education systems usually provide very little information on countries and cultures outside the USA.

The "nobody exists except US" attitude can show up in surprising places. One TV movie set after a Soviet invasion of the U.S. had a briefing for people being released from a "re-education" camp. There was a map on the wall - the standard "disembodied United States" map used by TV weather forecasts. If the Soviets were to invade the U.S., why wouldn't they also invade Canada and Mexico? Also, why would they make any distinction (other than which Soviet officer was in charge of various areas) between Soviet-occupied U.S., Soviet-occupied Canada, and Soviet-occupied Mexico?

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

though I confess that one day I really want to take the Cunard cruise from NY to Southampton, kill a few weeks and return. Now that sounds like the perfect way to travel. *swoon*

I'd love to take a cruise from Southhampton to NY, just as long as it ain't in the middle of April if ya catch my drift

[Seshat]

The "nobody exists except US" attitude can show up in surprising places. One TV movie set after a Soviet invasion of the U.S. had a briefing for people being released from a "re-education" camp. There was a map on the wall - the standard "disembodied United States" map used by TV weather forecasts. If the Soviets were to invade the U.S., why wouldn't they also invade Canada and Mexico? Also, why would they make any distinction (other than which Soviet officer was in charge of various areas) between Soviet-occupied U.S., Soviet-occupied Canada, and Soviet-occupied Mexico?

The hypothetical invaders may well make their administrative territories based on natural boundaries anyway; so where the borders are arbitrary, they'd probably end up being changed.

There are only a few nations which would be likely to keep their current boundaries after a major war; and those are islands or island groupings, or places like Chile where there's not really any point in trying to cross the mountain range just to gain a few extra hectares of land.