I took one of those cliche let’s-go-out-and-explore-other-cultures European tours this summer. I saw a lot of grass and buildings and museums and sandwiches.
Interestingly, though, I learned more about America abroad than I thought was possible from 5,000 miles away.
There were the long-winded discussions about Canada’s impression of American foreign policy with Mark from Nova Scotia. There were the apologies for Bush’s decisionmaking to Ignacio from Spain. There was the dodging of the “So, where are you from?” question from a drunken Australian named Dean, and a Frenchman named Regis, and an Irish woman named Melissa, and a … .
But what shocked me most about my own culture, as seen from across the Atlantic, was meeting my fellow Americans and hearing their own take on our current events.
Well, I suppose I couldn’t even call it that. It was more of a disappointing lack of opinion coupled with a lack of interest.
Just a few nights ago, my friend and I were lounging outside the Eiffel Tower, talking about how far we sat from the UCLA campus. A few hours into the night, we met a group of people from Colorado and their friend Eduardo from Mexico. As I spoke to Eduardo about his adventures in New Zealand, Southeast Asia and France, he suddenly asked me in his perfect English, “Do you know what the world doesn’t like about Americans?”
Genuinely curious, I asked him to continue.
“You don’t know anything about the rest of the world. You don’t even know what your own president is doing half the time.”
One of the guys from Colorado laughed and calmly explained that students don’t care about foreign ““ or even national ““ affairs because, on a day-to-day basis, we never notice the difference between one president and another.
“It wouldn’t matter if Bush or Clinton or Reagan were in office, I’d still be in school, studying, eating McDonald’s, the same thing I do now.”
I glared at him. He took a gulp of wine from the bottle in his hand. It was quiet for a moment as his ignorance and naivete sunk in.
“That’s terrible,” is all Eduardo could say.
To think that what goes on in the world has no immediate effect on us is possibly the most shortsighted perspective we can have. If for no other reason, we need knowledge of what goes on around us in order to communicate and relate to the rest of the world.
But more than that, we need to form opinions on current events; we need to see them through a global perspective. It’s the only way we will ever be able to break out of the stereotype of the “ignorant American” and affect any change in a world overflowing with anti-American sentiment.
Later, Eduardo turned to me and asked me, “Who is the president of Mexico?”
“Felipe Calderon.”
He looked surprised and even impressed. I was even a little proud of myself.
That’s when I realized that information and education are the only ways to break down the preconceived notions that the rest of the world has for us. It may seem easy to sit back and go about our daily lives, but once we step out into the world, our ignorance will follow us.
I know that this is very old news to many UCLA students, who not only stay informed about world affairs but also work to shape the future of our country and our place in the world’s conscience.
But that is why the Viewpoint page is so important to UCLA students. It is a place for you to not only stay informed about issues, but also to gain a deeper understanding of their implications through the voices of our student columnists, cartoonists and editorial board.
Most importantly, though, it’s a place for you to give us your perspective on current events and start a dialogue with other students. It may seem like one small piece of paper, but I believe this page is one of the best tools we can use to fight against the world’s expectations of our passiveness. Because what goes on in the world does affect us the moment we awake from our comfortable Westwood lives and realize that the world’s eyes are on us.
It is an 11-hour plane ride to Paris. The world isn’t as far away from our campus as we would like to think.
Jones is a 2007-2008 assistant Viewpoint editor. E-mail her at cjones@media.ucla.edu. General comments can be sent to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.