As I grew up, I started getting bothered by the US, but it had nothing to do with the country itself. The other Brazilian people kissing their ass was what I had a problem with. It seemed common sense that Brasil sucked and the US rocked. People were dying to escape to the States, to leave the mess in Brasil and start a new life in a place conveniently portrayed by the media as infinitely superior. That pissed me off. My fellow Brazilians were all cowards trying to take the easy way out, running away from the problem instead of helping to solve it, and making everything worse in the process. I still had the cool Hollywood image of the US, but I started disliking them for taking people's hearts away from Brasil.
My annoyance with the US continued being just a matter of my Brazilian patriotism for a long time. Some little things would add to it here and there, like the fact that people over there refer to themselves as Americans, even though America is a whole continent and I'm as American as a Japanese is Asian. My Hollywood image was also starting to break down slowly: they are the most obese nation in the world?! What other points about reality in the US were the movies lying about?
My next shock was, funny enough, not due to a fake reality depicted in movies, but the exact opposite: a common movie theme which I thought nowadays only existed on the screen turned out to be a sad reality, wars. Up to that point, wars, for me, had always been historical facts. You know, the kind of thing human beings used to do before they learned proper ways of discussing issues and coming to agreements. Brasil hasn't been in wars during my lifetime, so the word "war" reminded me of world wars, ancient tribes and stuff. That's why when I learned that there were wars happening right then, and that the States were fighting in them, my futuristic image of them was totally broken. I mean, the future is not about people beating each other up until one gives up, every kid learns that getting physical is not a solution. The US love talking about freedom and yet brainwash their young men to kill other human beings who happened to be born somewhere else? The methods used by the modern nation were pretty ancient to my taste. And childish, like a big fat bully.
The final blow to any image of technology, innovation and modernity there could be left to me vanished when a friend from the US told me that "Religion is pretty big in America, George Bush says he was sent by God." I was appalled, I couldn't believe it, how medieval! I knew Bush had a reputation for being kind of dumb, but sent from God was a whole new level! So besides sending people to war, their head of state mixed religion and politics?! Like a pharaoh!? I was in shock, nothing made sense anymore. They have "In God we Trust" printed on their money, Bibles in court rooms! They are actually struggling to let go of creationism! The media had done a great job illustrating the country as a place of reason and intelligence, when in reality they hadn't even been introduced to secularism yet!
I spent a long time angry at the US for pretending to be so cool and making Brazilian people dislike their own country, while they seemed to be behind us in so many areas. I couldn't find anything else superior about them besides the fact they had more money and were very cunning when portraying themselves. The more I dug the more dirt I found, and not obscure stuff, the dirt was pretty mainstream. The war thing was worse than I thought, half their taxes going to the military, university professors always slipping in some military application for their research in order to get funding. And seriously, Fox News! I thought Rede Globo in Brasil was non-objective and reported things according to their interests, but Fox is just too brazenly obvious!
I guess the US are in fact, let's say, more advanced in several areas. And sadly enough, our poorer countries have been actually working hard to follow their example on everything without taking a deeper look first. Like the Ugandan people who are being influenced by evangelical priests from the US into condemning gay people to death. The US did a great job tricking the third world into believing they are a model of modernity which we all should aspire to. But we are growing out of it and seeing the country for what it is. A big political mess like any of our countries. A big example of unsustainable irresponsible development. A nation with a still big religious influence in daily life, education, and politics. A superficial country that praises unhealthily thin bodies while a big part of its population suffers from illnesses related to excessive food. A country which high-jacked the word freedom for their own capitalist interests, and self-righteously shove their sick idea of freedom into other countries when, clearly, they are rotten inside themselves.
Right now, I've passed the hate phase. For me the US is just another country, an abstract concept conveniently abused by smartly evil people. Their people, proudly receiving troops returning from Iraq, are no better to me than Osama Bin-Laden's peeps partying after the September 11th attacks. I feel sorry for their soldiers as I feel sorry for suicide bombers, sorry for their megachurches as I'm sorry for the black meteor in Mecca. Tourism-wise, I'm not very interested, it wouldn't feel exotic. Career-wise, the military funding thing disgusts me. And honestly, the idea of a rancher trying to shoot me and my girlfriend thinking we are sinful Mexicans is not pleasing.
But one never knows, right? Specially when you are free, anything could happen. I could end up in the "heart of the free world" eventually... hahahaha Peace and French fries!
1 comments:
I pretty much grew up thinking the same, especially since I have relatives in the US, and having seen their success, want the same for myself. Anyone who works hard in the US earns great rewards, not like back in my country, where I used to work 12-hour shifts for shit. There was no going forward, and despite all effort, most people are trapped in hamster-wheel situation.
However, I taught myself to become objective, to read and learn from history, to remain updated in current events, and to listen. The US sure is just another country, with its problems, its glories, and its dirty secrets except for one thing: they have the best media distribution system in the whole planet. And I think that makes all the difference.
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