Another Geography Lesson: Americans' Map of the World

To follow up on yesterday's geography lesson, I love these maps of the world as purportedly seen through the eyes of Americans. .... if we can't laugh at ourselves sometimes, then we're in trouble, right?

And note that I say laugh at ourselves - I don't support the sneering, condescending tone that some Americans adopt toward fellow citizens.

American map of the world. Credit: Cruise Critic forum

American map of the world. Credit: Intercultural Meanderings

Reagan's map of the world. Credit: Intercultural  Meanderings

Truthfully, it's kind of hard for me to laugh at the Reagan map of the world. Under his administration, we did (or enabled) some vile, despicable things in Central and South America. We denied desperate pleas for asylum from terrified Central Americans seeking refuge in the U.S. from death and torture because granting them asylum would have acknowledged that the governments we supported with financial and military resources were the perpetrators of said death and torture. It sickened me when George W. brought back players from that dark time to his administration, such as John Negroponte and Elliot Abrams.  Jesus, looking back on this is depressing. Not that I'm thrilled with Obama's apparent disinterest in restoring some civil freedoms we used to have in the U.S., before the so-called Patriot Act. 

OK, getting a grip .... 

American map of Asia. Credit: e-junkie info

There are also maps of the world according to other countries. Here's a view of the world by the British:

British map of the world. Credit: e-junkie info

Georgian Jokes: A Georgian, An American, and ...

The rabbit

The Georgian, American, and Russian militaries got together for a contest to see who could retrieve a rabbit from the forest faster than the others.

The Americans brought in consultants, psychologists, and military advisors, then went into the forest. They talked to the rabbit for two hours and persuaded him to come out.

The Russians brought in helicopters and planes and bombed the forest. An hour later, they carried out a dead rabbit.

The Georgians went into the forest, whereupon everyone heard terrible sounds of pommeling and beating. Ten minutes later, they came out of the forest with a bear, who promptly signed papers confessing he was a rabbit.


Who do you love?

An American man, a French man, and a Georgian man all had wives and mistresses.

When asked who he loved, the American said, "I love my wife."

When asked who he loved, the French man said, "I love my mistress."

When asked who he loved, the Georgian man said, "I love my mother."
 

Note: I told this joke to my hostess, Nely, who didn't think it was at all funny. After all, Georgian sons should love their mothers best. 

Anything You Wish

A genie escaped from a bottle and he decided he wanted to have sex with three beautiful women: An American, a French woman, and a Georgian woman.

After being with each woman, he granted them one wish.

The American woman said, "I want a mansion on a hill." 

The French woman said, "I want a Porsche."

The Georgian woman said, "Don't let anyone know we had sex."

 
 

Travel Blasphemy #4: "American" is OK

One of the first questions people ask a foreigner:

Where are you from? 

You'd think that'd be an easy thing to answer.




Am I from the US, the USA, or America? 


I used to answer carefully that I was from the U.S. because, in order to be accurate and respectful, I must recognize that two continents share the name American. To say I was from America would be at best, gauche, and at worst, imperialistic. I didn't want that. 

Now I use "the U.S." or "America" interchangeably, depending on whichever option my brain pushes forward first. The reason why is in the section below.


Am I American or USian?


Fake question. Because in truth, USian was never an option for me. USian is just stupid, though if you want to call yourself that, go right ahead. I think we have the right to call ourselves whatever we want.

I used to feel awkward self-identifying as American (see first section for why), so I generally reframed my answer as "I'm from the U.S." 


But over time, I noticed something interesting. Almost everyone outside of the U.S. refers to people from the U.S. as Americans. And almost as often, they use America following "going to," "visiting," or "living in."

In other words, they don't trip over what is, in my current view, an artificial issue. By artificial I mean that we North and South Americans don't talk about being American (with a larger capital A than is already there) unless we're talking in the context of North America or South America. In other words, the distinction doesn't usually come up in casual conversation. Which is what the question "where are you from"? is -- casual conversation. 


I noticed something else here in Georgia. Sakartvelians don't complain about being called Georgian even though they refer to their country as Sakartvelo. (They do get a mite annoyed about being called Russian.) 

Speaking of Georgians, they don't shy away from calling themselves Caucasian simply because billions of people outside of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia might also self-identify as Caucasian.



So anyway, I'm American.

But what if this offends people in North or South America? 

Bottom line: All of us have the right to self-identify as we wish.