Like Winston Churchill said, we're separated by a common language. Otherness is what I define as cultural irony, when you go from one culture to an other and nothing you discover is as you expect. Like driving in Mexico and stopping at a large red octangular sign that says ALTO instead of STOP. People are pretty much the same anywhere in the world you travel, but cultures are worlds appart. I think the more you understand the concept of otherness the more globe-centric your thoughts become, and Americans are notoriously bad at this.
Sometimes when I read your posts multi I get the feeling that you're meddling in affairs that you have no business with, but I stop myself becasue I know that American politics are a big part of world affairs. But World politics are completly different from American politics, and that is the area of greater interest to me. My observation is that American politics are so advanced that they've gone backwards to childishness, and I hate to see that kind of influence spread globally.
On a related note, one of the reasons that Star Wars Episode One sucked so much is because the Senate's politics perfectly mimicked America's. I find it hard to believe that a mish mash of diverse alien cultures a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away would resemble our own culture so much, and it makes George Lucas look very naive for his terible misunderstanding of history. The movie Gladiator, on the other hand, showed ancient Roman politics, and while the similarities are easy to find you can see some important differences as well. Roman culture is well documented, and the amount of change that has taken place over the last 1700 years is vast and striking.
So you can understand why I want to understand other cultures better. America is like a dumbed down version of the rest of the world, and as much as I lover her I'm starting to get bored talking about her. I think in order to understand any system you need a basis for comparison, and this forum is the only place I find it. I never talk about politics with my friends at work, and I hardly talk about it with my family, because all they really know is the American version and there's no room for critical thought. While it may be dificult for you and I to have these discussions when we use different vocabularies I think it's worth getting past the differences in language to get at the heart of these issues, it's very rewarding.
The point is that the internet is going to force us to think of the world as One whether we want to or not, and those who understand World politics from the begining will be the only competent leaders. This is my quest for otherness.
|