Thursday, February 18, 2010

America! F Yeah!

I don't have a passport and haven't had one for several years. I haven't been out of the country (Windsor, Ontario, Canada doesn't count) since 2000. Of course it's buckets of fun to hit Europe and I imagine South America, Asia and Africa are just as fun, but we live in the greatest country in the history of population, so why shouldn't I explore America first?

Proudly, I can say I've been to 24 states (plus DC) and driven through another three or four. That's barely over half of the stars on the flag! I don't have a problem with any other countries, I just don't get why people are in such a rush to see other places when there is so much to do and see here. LA is as different from NYC as any foreign city. If people want to mix things up, take a drive to the country if you live in a city. Plan a weekend in The Cago if you live on a farm in Iowa. Because of it's size, America is one of the most (if not, tops) diverse countries in the world, any way you slice it - culturally, climate-wise, socially, economically, geographically and demographically.

"Yeah, well, I go to Europe for the history, Jesse." Oh, right. Ever heard of the Revolutionary War, Plymouth Rock, the Louisiana Purchase, Trail of Tears, the Civil War, the Boston Massacre, The Alamo. Europe, of course, has the older buildings, the more ancient stories, etc., but America's landmarks, museums, statues and so on are just as interesting.

I don't want to sound like a Nationalist, but there's a lot to see in this country, before we go run off to another place and fawn over their culture or history. Our economy would probably be in the same position as it is now, but then again, it might be just a little bit better if we spent more of our vacation dollars on American soil.

Though I've felt this way for a while, I was compelled to write about it after a conversation with a friend in which he mentioned why there was this huge outcry for Haiti, but he didn't remember the same thing happening for N'Awlins. I don't want to go all Paul Shirley on the people, but it is very interesting that we'd go hogwild to help a foreign country, but toned it back slightly for something awful that happened here.

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Quick Hits on Things in the News

It matters not to me how many medals the US wins in Vancouver. The only thing that I (and viewers) should care about, is how many GOLDS we win. In no other sport, save maybe NCAA Basketball do you hear so much talk about 2nd and 3rd place finishes. Even in that case, you always hear how many championships they have before how many Final Fours they've appeared in. It's important to be the best in the world at the most things, not be close to the top at a lot of stuff. America is about winning, leave the medal count for the other countries, give me the Gold

Tiger Woods is apologizing on a Friday, rather, THE Friday of the Accenture matchplay championship. Also known as an event he has won numerous times in the past and the first company to drop him after his harem was revealed. I have no problems with Tiger wanting to stick it to them by stealing tons of press from the event, but making an announcement on a Friday is one of the oldest tricks in the book to (at least attempt) to receive less coverage. Before the era of the 24-Hour news cycle, bad news and awkward announcements would often go out on Friday afternoons in hopes that people wouldn't hear about it or if they did, spend much time on it. Sac up and do it right, if you're going to do it.

-Jesse

4 comments:

  1. I agree. Everybody was so quick to help Haiti, which isn't a bad thing, but they've all forgotten about the N.O. Places like the 9th Ward are still demolished but America has seemed to forget about that. The attention span of America is terrible and it's sad that people have forgotten about the disaster in New Orleans.

    It seemed like donating money to Haiti was the popular thing to do because of all these celebrities (Wyclef, Will.I.Am, among many others) saying to donate.

    Don't get me wrong, you're a great person if you donated. But I think all these celebrities that live in America should still be a part of helping N.O., not run a telethon when it happened however long ago and then forget about it.

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  2. How exactly do you visit the Louisiana Purchase? And who goes to Plymouth Rock? How about with stick with Vegas, Grand Canyon, Juiced up meatheads at Jersey shore, and NYC.

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  3. Bro...you can't say things in America are just as interesting as things elsewhere in the world when you haven't been to those places. It's like saying you don't like a food before you've tried it. The Alamo may very well be as interesting as the Coliseum in Rome but one doesn't know until they've been to both.

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