If you don’t know less than 50% of Americans have a passport. The ones who don’t, I really see the limitation in their thinking. They never saw that most of the world is in fact freer than them, has a better system in place for their people, and doesn’t have some of the major problems that America has. I’m currently in a country where over 90% of items are made in that country. America (made in China) can’t comprehend this efficiency. P.S. I’m American
The thing that gets me though is how dangerous many Americans say other parts of the world is without having ever been there lol. I travel and I’ll tell you America is the MOST dangerous country outside of warzones. Yes even more dangerous that Arab countries for women. Lol I know that propaganda is in a lot of Americans minds.
OK so who’s actually been outside the country and can talk geopolitics and actually know from experience what they are talking about?
Being able to explore different geographic landscapes is nice but traveling outside of your country is necessary to broaden one’s worldview.
But even travel alone isn’t enough. You need to have a genuine curiosity about the world. About humanity.
I watched Eat Pray Love with my SO recently. I can’t think of a more narrow minded approach to telling this type of story. Using other nations and their people as a backdrop to one’s own half baked self discovery. It was poorly done and thankfully even the core audience of americans identified its issues.
I can’t imagine a life only seeing one nation’s people, worldview and lifestyle. It seems incomplete to me. I know for many Americans there are financial challenges (and not a lot of PTO) but I agree with you that its often to an individuals benefit to broaden their horizons.
100% yes.
I am privileged to be able to travel for fun, but also live in and get immersed in other cultures thanks to work.
The Americans that spend 5 days in Cancun, an all-inclusive in DR, or “went to Africa” by touching Morocco on a day trip from Spain…ugh. Y’all look bad saying box-ticking is anything else than that. It’s not a competition; what did you actually personally gain from the experience? What makes you grow as a person with greater understanding of our world? Sometimes the answers surprise you, but largely, it’s about saving money and being a dick to people you wrongly assume don’t speak English.
Agreed. I’d add that I don’t think experiencing a diaspora culture in the US is the same as going to another country and experiencing a culture on it’s home turf. The latter requires a sense of humility that I think the vast majority of Americans struggle with (or shy away from for other reasons). Overcoming those holdups leads to oppurunities to have a more complete sense of the world and self.
I genuinely think many in America (also generally the West and wealthy people) see the world as a commodity that should offer a degree of “user/customer experience” which leads to some problematic world views and is part of why they may treat travel as a checklist. They want to go as far as possible without actually leaving home and wear it as a status symbol.
Indeed. I’ve once met a boatful of American tourists visiting Cologne (Germany). I don’t think they actually knew where they were, and even called me a liar when I told them that the cathedral they were looking at was 750 years old (“No bulding can be that old!”).
Did you know you can be exposed to other cultures without leaving the country? You did a good job of pointing out why travel alone doesn’t make people more open minded, but you didn’t touch on the opportunities Americans have to connect with other cultures without leaving their own country.
Not to mention different economic classes. Like people for whom travel to a different continent would be a luxury beyond their financial capabilities.
You can be exposed to an Americanized version of that culture, absolutely. Its not the same as going to its source.
No of course not, but it still exposes a person to a culture different than what they may be used to.
Its certainly better than nothing. But leaving your home country, especially to see and try to understand a culture different from yours, requires a type of humility that helps make a person more complete. I know many Americans struggle with work life balance which makes it not so feasible so I agree that exploring other cultures at home is a reasonable compromise. But a compromise nonetheless.