If you have spent your life living in this country, and never ventured out of it to some other places where they speak different languages, have a completely different culture than yours, you may be a very bad judge of just how to rate your own country. You are probably convinced that no other forms of government are decent, because you have heard it repeated over and over again that ours is the best, and anything different from it is shit. So don't go thinking that you know all this critical information when you have never tested it outside of the confines of your own little bubble, because that amounts to nothing more than excessive arrogance and sheep or parrot-like behavior . . . repeating what you have heard, but never testing it yourself personally.
I can tell you there are great wonders to be seen beyond the confines of the good old US of A, from places like Palma De Mallorca, Spain, Pompeii, Italy, the Great Pyramids in Egypt, in other cultures and other languages, and the list goes on . . . . if you do not pop that bubble you are living in, you will appear to others who have done so, to be nothing more than a parrot or fool who cannot see beyond his or her own foggy horizon.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Have an open mind, then, you'll see and learn a lot. Try not to judge by your own standards. After all, you catch only a glimpse of the culture of another country. Once, a lady, after she came back from a holiday(vacation) in Romania, said to me 'It was OK - just OK, I'm afraid. They could do with more McDonald's and fish'n chip shops." I just laughed.
Ryo1
Level 8
Mar 20, 2022
1
I love your point of view!
Has anyone here ever watched the movie Cannibal Tours by Dennis O'Rourke? It's a really interesting documentary that follows adventure tourists around and observes the assumptions they make and their interactions with those from other cultures - your example really reminds me of it! A sillier and more enjoyable example would be "Talking to Americans" from the comedy show, The Rick Mercer Report (sincerely not meaning to offend any Americans here!).
Nerdy tidbit: In sociological anthropology, the concept you're describing is termed "cultural relativism" -- trying our best not to judge a culture based on our own standards/perceptions. In doing that, we're also avoiding "ethnocentrism" -- judging other cultures based solely on the perception of our own culture.
Travel is the cure for many of the world's ills and I Don't mean traveling to an all inclusive resort with a high wall topped with barbed wire or a military base that you almost never leave and therefore don't interact with the local culture and find out that while there are differences, people are generally the same.
SnowyOwl
Level 8
Mar 20, 2022
3
Right! I've had so MANY people tell me there are so many wonderful things to see in the US that it's a mystery why I'd want to see Borneo or Namibia or Albania....etc.
If I were QUEEN OF THE WORLD (ahem) I'd make it mandatory for every young adult to spend at least a year, traveling to other nations. I guarantee it'd be the best education they could ever have.
LucyLoohoo
Level 9
Mar 20, 2022
3
Damn, you are worthy of being such a queen . . . ha ha. Not only would it be a good education, it would change the way the country is run.
@LucyLoohoo
I wanted the same for my kids. My older son has travelled far and wide, my younger son not so much yet but I'm sure he'll want that.
I'm glad you've visit my country too, Lucy 
@TimeOutForMe RSA is so very beautiful. Good wine, too. 
Travelling is an education. I was happy to visit seven countries. I also visited five states in the USA over different trips. Some thought we lived with wildlife in our backyard. They wound ask questions and say things as if we we lived a primitive lifestyle here.
TimeOutForMe
Level 8
Mar 20, 2022
2
Primitive lifestyle, ha ha, that is about par for the course. Sometimes preconceptions can be so bad they are pitiful.
I hear you, as a Canadian I have heard all the queries about log cabins and igloos with bears and moose roaming the dirt streets of our little towns. Sometimes I roll my eyes, sometimes I just laugh but on one rather memorable occasion I agreed and said I would be happy now that Spring was arriving (it was mid summer) the old capitol city would melt and we could go back to using the summer capitol city until the deep freeze arrived again in September. 
I just couldn't help myself.
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