Living in Isolation
Living in Isolation
In the late 1600’s, Alexander Selkirk, a sailor on a British privateer ship sailing near Peru, demanded to be let off on the next island because of fears that their ship was no longer sea-worthy. The captain obliged him and he spent the next several years on an uninhabited tropical island, awaiting rescue. Many consider him to be the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.
When he was finally rescued (ironically by the very captain who abandoned him), he looked like a “wild man” – long beard, tattered clothes, and the crew could barely understand him. He had gone so long without speaking to anyone that he seemed to have developed his own language that nobody could understand. He had also become very agile and able to hunt down goats with his bare hands.
Moral of the story… Strange things happen to people when they’re isolated.
Which I think can explain a lot about what’s going on in the U.S. today. People don’t think about this much, but we really are a very isolated country in the world. Most of the land mass on the planet resides in the Eastern Hemisphere – Europe, Asia, Africa and all the countries, cultures, and languages that reside there. And then, on the other side of the globe, this North American continent, only a fraction of the land mass on the other side, surrounded by water, completely separated from the rest of the world.
But even more critical than that is the cultural isolation. Compare the U.S. to countries in Europe. Germany, for example. It borders nine countries (Denmark, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France). Nine different countries with nine different cultures and sets of traditions, speaking 11 languages - German, English, French, Italian, Romanish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Danish, Luxembourgish (Yup, real language).
Countries in Europe are immersed in other peoples culture and languages. This forces them to integrate, be tolerant, observant, and think outside their own borders. Consider the entirety of the European Union – 23 languages total.
Here in the U.S., we’re bordered by two countries. One of them speaks our language and is culturally indistinguishable. The other one isn’t – and we want to put a giant fence up between us. And instead of promoting linguistic aptitude amongst the population, when faced with a bunch of immigrants who speak a different language, our government proposes making English mandatory.
It’s no wonder Americans have no concept of thinking outside our own borders. It’s no wonder we’re convinced that we live in the “best country in the world!” It’s just all we know. And we just can’t understand why all these other countries have such a problem with us.
And it’s no wonder we seem to think that our rules should be the rules everybody else in the world should live by.
And it’s no wonder we seem to be rotting from within.
Beyond that, though, there are parts of the U.S. that are more isolated than the rest of it.
I refer to Texas a lot. I’m from there. I have family there… It’s a f*cked up place.
Take the unfiltered, boundless American pride we all know and love, multiply it by 20, and you get close to an idea of how the average Texan feels about being a Texan.
A small example: My sister lived for several years in North Carolina before moving back to Fort Worth. My grandmother, who lived nowhere near Fort Worth, wept when she heard the news. Not because my sister would be closer, not because she would be able to see her more often, but just because she was back in Texas. She said, “Now I know everything will be all right.”
True story. It’s like Texas bordered Mordor and my sister had been in Sauron’s evil grip for the last several years and had found her way back into the Shire.
My other grandmother, also from Texas, has never been impressed by anything I’ve given her for Christmas – and for good reason, my presents usually suck. But one year I just came across a nice map of Texas. It felt like a total cop-out to give it to her. It remains framed on her wall in a position of pride to this day.
Texas is a huge place. For most people in Texas, a trip across state lines is a big deal. It’s not just a little daytrip to a flea market, it’s a multi-day excursion. This isolates the people in Texas even from the rest of the country. Perspective is lost. It’s no wonder they believe Texas to be the center of the universe. They’re isolated inside isolation.
And Texas is also one of the reddest of the red states, socially and politically. It makes me wonder – is there something about isolationism and the lack of perspective and integration that comes along with it, that turns people and societies conservative?
It’s considered common knowledge that rural areas tend to be more conservative than urban areas. Is that because urban areas create melting pots of people from different parts of the country and even the world, putting the average person more in touch with different cultures, dialects, languages, and ideas, that tends to make a person more liberal? It’s also been noticed that most of the “blue” states are along the coasts. Maybe that’s because people travel there more often, again spreading ideas and cultural diversity, causing an open awareness amongst the society?
Take Hawaii for example. It’s one of the most isolated places in the whole world, but people from all over the world travel there every day of the year. Blue state. Then look at Alaska. Just as isolated. Far less tourism and far more rural. Red state.
It’s not that liberals hate America. It’s just that they know there are alternatives to how we do things.
And I’m not trying to say that conservatives are a bunch of castaway Alexander Selkirks, running around with long beards and tattered clothes, catching goats with their bare hands and rattling on in a gibberish that nobody can make sense of…
But it’s an interesting thought, no?
Friday, September 29, 2006
