American Culture

Well, I have given the blog a rest for a little while; partly because I couldn't be bothered typing a blog these past few weeks. I also think I needed to take the time to properly settle into the way of life over here. There has been so much to take in that at times it has been somewhat overwhelming. That said, I think I really needed to let the dust settle and just absorb everything that has been going on around me. And after a few weeks, now I find myself observing a lot more and acknowledging the way things are done here. The American Way....

People talk about culture shock. Here in Alaska I can separate it into two parts: Alaska and the US. As for Alaska, it's great, relaxed, laid-back and a very beautiful place to live. The US, on the other hand, is where the bigger culture shock lies. The United States is definitely a wealthy country driven by a consumer's dollar. Nothing is out of reach for Americans; one can literally have anything he wants. Make a phone call at nine o'clock in the morning and it's on your doorstep at three o'clock in the afternoon. As for the old phrase 'To have and to have not', well, forget the 'have not' part: if you want it you can have it. Even at the supermarket: anything you can imagine has been stuck into a can and put on the shelf! At times, it has been overwhelming! And people are telling me that this is only Alaska - everything must be shipped in; imagine what it must be like in the lower 48 (the contigious part of the States)!! This attitude is definitely reflected in the advertising: nothing seems like a luxury. I hear ads saying, "When you choose your spa pool..." A spa pool, somthing that has always struck me as a luxury item reserved for the rich and famous, is wrapped up and packaged as something the average Joe can have! Furthermore, because one can have anything he wants this leads people to think that they actually need all this... crap!

I had an enjoyable conversation with a man here who had been to New Zealand, and I want to share something I found ironic. He said, "I love the Kiwi ingenuity! If something's broken, they pull out their tools and screwdrivers and will work on it all day and fix it! It's amazing!" I told him that I had discovered the reverse here in the US. He replied, "Oh no, we don't fix anything! We just buy a new one!"

At this point I must make it clear that my impressions of the US are drawn from my experience of only one state. The US is a very vast country and I hear that it is indeed very diverse! So my impressions and interpretations can't be taken as a blanket representation for the whole country.

On my journey of discovery here in America, I did find it quite overwhelming at first! And it was easy to make the mistake of comparing or criticising the way things are done. However, I have found that after a few weeks, I'm observing more and more and trying to take it all in as opposed to trying to criticise it.

One thing that I do notice is that people choose to turn a blind eye to things that go on. I'm not sure if that is just here because we are in a small town, or if that is true for the rest of the US. I understand the 'turn a blind eye' mentality when it comes to respecting people's privacy and minding one's own business. However, I really question where the boundary lies. How much should one turn a blind eye to? And at what point does our duty as a human being begin? How much do we let slide before we say to a man, "Mate, you need to stop bashing up your wife"? Or when do you tell a heavily pregnant woman that she needs to stop drinking alcohol because she is poisoning her child? People explain it away, "Well, it's none of my business..." "I shouldn't interfere..." But it makes me wonder - if you know that something that is fundamentally wrong is happening and you do nothing to stop it, aren't you equally at fault? And just because something is widely acknowledged, or even widely accepted, it doesn't mean it is right. In some small villages here in Alaska there is a problem with incest; it is widely known and acknowledged - but incest is never right! At what point will people say, "We need to put a stop to this"? Where does our duty as human beings start? When does our conscience kick in and kick our arses into action?