Posted: 10/10/2017 | October 10, 2017
We’ve all heard the alarming statistic—only 40% of Americans own a passport.
That number is rising, however only since Americans are now needed to show a passport when going to Mexico as well as Canada. Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin very first got her passport last year as well as has only traveled overseas to armed forces bases in Iraq as well as Germany. In fact, she’s implied that traveling is for the rich:
“I’m not one of those who perhaps come from a background of, you know, youngsters who maybe graduate college as well as their parents get ’em a passport as well as provide ’em a backpack as well as state go off as well as travel the world. Noooo. I worked all my life…I was not, uh, a part of, I guess, that culture.”
So why is it that the world’s superpower, a country with 300 million people, turns a blind eye to the rest of the planet, as well as political figures tout their lack of overseas travel as a plus? I believe there are a few reasons:
First, there’s size. fail to remember about post-9/11 politics for a moment. a lot of household holidays in America are to other parts of America. Why? since the us takes up the width (and a great deal of the height) of a whole continent, as well as we have all the world’s environments in our states. requirement beaches? Head to Florida. The tropics? Hawaii. Desert? Arizona. chilly tundra? Alaska. Temperate forests? Washington. This mindset about America having all you requirement is finest summed up by a action I got from a buddy in Iowa: “Why would you want to go to Thailand? It’s far as well as scary. If you want beaches, just go to Florida.” Americans just don’t see the requirement to go anywhere else when they can do everything in their own country, particularly when they’re terrified of the world.
Which brings me to my second point—fear. Americans are just afraid of the world. I mean, truly scared. perhaps even petrified. In this post-9/11 world, Americans have been taught that the world is a big, frightening place. There are terrorists outside every hotel waiting to kidnap you. people don’t like you since you’re American. The world is violent. It’s poor. It’s dirty. It’s savage. Canada as well as Europe are OK, however if you go there, they’ll still be disrespectful to you since you’re American. nobody likes us.
Even before 9/11, the media produced an atmosphere of fear. If it bleeds, it leads, right? prior to 9/11, the media played up violence at house as well as abroad. photos of riots in foreign streets, dangers against Americans, as well as general violence were all played as much as depict a volatile as well as hazardous world. After 9/11, it only got worse. Politicians now tell us “they dislike you,” as former nyc Mayor Rudy Guiliani did during his campaign. It’s us vs. THEM!!!
Bombarded by this for decades, Americans believe this myth is truth as well as don’t want to leave the States.
People always ask me why I want to leave the us to travel. Isn’t the us just as good? ”No one likes us out there,” people say. To Americans, the world is a frightening place, as well as it’s a understanding only reinforced by the media as well as politicians.
Finally, it’s since of cultural ignorance. Yes, I stated it—Americans are ignorant. Ignorant as in they just don’t understand what is going on outside their own borders, not that they’re dumb. I don’t blame them, really. When you’re told the world is scary, why would you want to care about it? Why would you want to go to locations where they supposedly want to kill you?
So Americans don’t put an emphasis on discovering about the world. We don’t take languages, we prevent overseas programs, as well as we don’t talk about our world in schools. Our institutions show one foreign language: Spanish, as well as that’s only since there’s a big Spanish-speaking population in the country, not since we want to go to Spain—or Mexico ideal next door. The media doesn’t focus on the world unless it associates with something bad, as well as our politicians motivate us to erect walls, not break down barriers.
Some people suggest that it’s since America is “far” from the rest of the world, as if there’s an insurmountable distance to go to get places. However, new Zealand is farther geographically from everything, yet new Zealanders are motivated to go out as well as check out the world. In the age of the Internet, Twitter, YouTube, as well as airplanes, it’s simple to go places. distance is no excuse.
Americans don’t travel since of culture, not location. Sure, it’s not universal. There are lots of Americans available checking out the world as well as breaking down cultural barriers. They come back, dispel myths, as well as motivate their buddies to ended up being a lot more conscious of the world. however even in the a lot more liberal locations in America, you see the mindset that America is the world’s only risk-free countryas well as that a lot of of the world is quite scary. Americans have an picture of the world that is absolutely divorced from reality.
The unfortunate irony is that we produced the world we are so terrified of. America’s push for a globalized world brought lots of players onto the stage. It assisted the Chinese dragon emerge from its cage, brought India into the game, assisted Brazil’s economic climate grow, as well as tore down communism. Now, we look at the world as well as are terrified that we no longer comprehend it or our location in it. instead of trying to discover more, we erect barriers as well as bury our heads in the sand.
Yet, I am hopeful. The future of the world needs a lot more integration, as well as young Americans growing up in this post-9/11 atmosphere are really a lot more thinking about discovering about other countries than shunning them. They want to travel as well as check out the world. I believe the future will be bright, as long as political leaders don’t wall us off totally before then.
For a lot more about why American’s don’t travel, right here are a couple follow-up articles I composed a couple of years after this one:
Why Americans STILL DON’T travel Overseas
Why Do Americans Pretend They Are Canadians?
How to travel the world on $50 a Day
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