YOUPOST 2

The USA – is there actually another country in this world?

When you think of Americans, which stereotypes come to your mind? They are into guns, obesity is a big problem, they are as patriotic as one can be, do you see them as racists or even religious fanatics? Of course there are positive stereotypes, too. US citizens are often seen as optimists and hard-working people who are generous and like to volunteer.

In this blog post, however, I want to engross my mind in one of many typical stereotypes: Geography is not the strength of Americans, mostly because they never leave their own country. The thought of being the most important and powerful state in the world and behaving ignorant against every other culture goes hand in hand with the lack of topographical knowledge. This topic appeals to me because geography is an interesting subject per se and I want to see behind the curtains of a major prejudice which lets Americans look dumb, stupid and proud of it.

There is a great variety of images and videos available on the Internet that are meant to prove the lack of geographical knowledge. Introducing some of the pictures to you, in order to let you know what exactly this stereotype is about, I start with a very disturbing one. It illustrates both ignorance and arrogance against the rest of the world but also a lack of knowledge in terms of cultures and landscapes in their own country:

The following very popular drawing shows a small improvement to the previous one, although there are still some small mistakes, but see for yourself:

It cannot get any worse? No, it cannot indeed. Although I do not think the next one is much better. It demonstrates in an ironic way how the “Rest of the world” is thought to be seen by Americans. Especially the colors are noticeable:

Last but not least, a very detailed insight into the stereotype world around the USA. The key of this map tells us that Americans are proud of having killed Osama bin Laden as well as of the wars they conducted and won. Canadians are seen as morons, Greenland is the home of Santa Claus and Africa consists of sand, gold and diamonds. Saudi Arabia is the most essential part of the world because it offers the USA the opportunity to exploit it so as to keep their status as superpower:

After looking at these examples, a rational thinking world citizen has to ask themselves important questions: Where did this stereotype of ignorance, arrogance and lack of geographical knowledge derive from and is it true?

Americas embarrassing ranking in geography testings (Example one; Example two) is the easiest part to explain. Nobody learns something they are not interested in. Additionally, I found out that most schools in the US focus on subjects that either help pupils to receive a job later on or deal with American culture, history and literature. As a result, it is not surprising that children do not know anything about geography nowadays, having no one who encourages them to learn it.

The reason for this lack of interest in teaching geography lays in both American history and geography itself. In the first one hundred years after foundation, the Atlantic Ocean represented a large barrier that divided the USA from Europe, considering that the latter was the center of power back then. Furthermore, the United States were confined in the south by weak Spanish colonies and in the north by Canada which was occupied by Great Britain, so it initially posed a threat on the US. The years of the British-American War followed and the relationship between America and the United Kingdom improved rapidly after that. Consequently, Canada was not dangerous anymore.

There was enough room for the Americans to expand their territory and they also experienced an industrial boom in the late 19^th century. They were busy with trading and expanding as well as looking for new sources in their own, larger and larger growing country. Being that isolated and busy with the execution of all these plans, it is no surprise that citizens were more interested in setting up their state than learning about others.

On the other hand, America had a lot of contact to foreign countries throughout the last century. Beginning with World War One, followed by World War Two and the Cold War, the USA are deeply involved in a war against terrorism today. It would be logical that American citizens have grown interest in geography in all these years of international affairs, but they did not. It seems plausible that the average American does not want to be bothered with war, international business and politics because they are satisfied with their status as a member of a superpower. They have everything they need in their own country, including advanced technology and food resources as well as great environmental variety. The country is almost as big as the whole European continent. That means if an American wants to go on a skiing vacation, they can do it in the USA, if they want to relax on the beach, they can also do it in the USA. Neither a weekend trip to one of the biggest cities in the world, nor a camel ride through a desert are impossible within one state border.

As always, stereotypes are chained to the entirety of a culture, but there are many adventurers among Americans who travel the world. Those who do not go away, in contrast, can definitely refer convincing reasons for their decision.

In conclusion, there is to say that most part of this stereotype is true, but understandable if you do some research on the background of the topic. Yet, it sometimes seems as if Americans try to live in their safe bubble and as long as nothing affects themselves personally, the outside world does not matter. One might think that for instance 9/11, obvious terrorism on American soil, must have woken up the citizens, but as this survey shows, nine out of ten Americans were unable to find Afghanistan on an Asia map after that terrible incident. Maybe because the world out there is so scary, depressing and far away for them.

Sources: http://hubpages.com/hub/American-Ignorance-of-Global-Geography
http://ancientheart2013.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-problem-of-geographical-ignorance-in-america/ 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_Americans

Pictures: http://discoveringdifferent.wordpress.com/tag/geography/

http://9gag.com/gag/2471854

Airbourne - Vienna - November 9th 2013

Joel O'Keeffe, the singer of Airbourne: “As long as we[the band] are alive and as long as you[the crowd] are alive, rock is not going to die.”

The best way to spend the weekend after an exam is to go to a concert because it distracts from everyday life at university. I was at the Airbourne Concert in Vienna last Saturday and do not regret it. This hard-rock band knows how to entertain people who have to sweat in a crowd with hurting feet and backs. Despite this uncomfortable and crowded situation, the concert audience has the typical, indescribable concert-feeling and the band, especially the lead-singer, does a great job with many guitar-solos and little “acts”. The latter are for example the singer smashing a beer can against his head until it breaks and then throwing it into the crowd or drinking a bottle of wine in one go*, whereas the guitar-solos are extraordinary because some of them take place above or behind the crowd, on speakers and on the scaffolding of the stage. The concert took four hours all in all, two supporting acts included, and I think one can imagine that this leisure time activity diverts the thoughts from the studies. Finally, I am back in Graz again, studying and doing homework, writing blogs and running a household, but I am looking forward to seeing another band at the next concert.

*It is a hard-rock concert. That means as soon as you enter the hall the only valid political system is anarchy. The band members do what they feel like doing and so does the crowd. (Most of) The concertgoers are aware of the fact that this is not a lifestyle to aim for.

A slightly different jump story

THREE, TWO, ONE, BUNGEE!

I love adventure. I have been loving it all my life.

At the age of thirteen I decided that I had to bungee jump as soon as possible. Two problems occurred: Firstly, it is not allowed to jump under the age of fourteen. Secondly, a permission of your parents is necessary if you are not eighteen or above. It took me two years of persuasion and two actively supporting brothers, one of them even works on the bungee bridge I jumped off, until my father finally agreed to sign the application.

Thank you for the mischievous smile, dear brother.

Standing on the edge, seconds before I was meant to jump, I felt weak and small, not sure anymore if I wanted to do this. My brother stood behind me, holding the rope that was going to safe my life, smiling and saying sarcastically:”If you hesitate, you do not need to come home anymore.” At the same moment the crew began to count down:“Three, two, one, BUNGEE!”, and I jumped.

Did it!

I actually cannot remember what I thought during my flight in free fall, but as soon as I bounced up again, it was great. I felt as if I had tricked death. The Drau below, wonderful nature surrounding and the Jauntalbrücke above me: By the time I slowed down, I was getting aware of the things around me for the first time on that day. I was brought back to land by a boat and wanted to jump again immediately.

Flying - no, actually falling.

Years went by and I got interested in the origins of this uncommon sport. After doing some research I found out that jumping of a very unsafe tower, only secured by a liana wound around the ankles, is the tradition of a folk that lives on an island called Vanuatu in Melanesia which is in the North-West of Australia.

As soon as European adventurers discovered this custom, they tried to transfer the sport into a safer one so as to promote it to western adrenaline junkies.

Relieved

The breakthrough, though, happened in New Zealand. A man called A. J. Hackett invented the first flexible bungee rope which he specially designed for this risky activity. In order to demonstrate it, he did the probably most famous jump, the one of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1987. After that, bungee jumping quickly evolved to a popular extreme sport throughout Europe.

A lot of people bother about the risks of bungee jumping and they actually should do if they do it secured just by a liana but not if they use a bungee rope and have a competent crew around them. The most frequent injury is an excoriation which can occur if you get in contact with the rope while you bounce back, but you are told to cover your head with your hands in order to avoid that.

As with a lot of extreme sports, it goes without saying that you should be in a good condition, physically and psychologically, if you intend to try it.

In conclusion, you should pick the company you want to jump with carefully, in order to prevent accidents.

Have fun, it is worth every penny! :)

YOUPOST 1

A spooky Halloween to all of you !

The estimates for this years Halloween per capita expenditure on costumes, decorations and candy lie at about 90$. That amounts to nearly seven billion dollars spent all in all, keeping in mind that this statistic only covers the United States. Beforehand mentioned numbers raise Halloween to the second largest feast, right after Christmas.

This typical American tradition evolved... – wait, is it actually American? Almost everyone of my friends in former times as well as myself were told by family that this tradition from overseas should not have been shipped to Europe because we already have our own customs. We do not need to walk from door to door begging for sweets. Pumpkins are not European, so Halloween cannot be either. We already have got Carnival, why should we dress up twice a year?

Thinking about the topic for more than just one minute, probably lets you discover that there could possibly be a relation between All Saints´ Day and Halloween. If so, you are totally right.

2000 years ago, the tradition was born in the form of a festival called Samhain which meant Summers´ end in the Celtic language. It was celebrated on the first of November, whereas the 31^st of October was believed to be the day on which the dead reasserted their presence. Nobody wanted to face the spirit of a deceased person, thus citizens disguised before walking out of their houses, in the hope to confuse the ghosts or be mistaken for a fellow one. They left food and wine on their doorsteps and lit bonfires in order to soothe the restless souls. Priests even tried to foretell if a village was able to get through the last night of October or not.

In the 8^th century, Catholic church weakened the ancient tradition by imposing the first of November as either All Saints´ Day or All Hallows. The relation to Halloween is obvious.

Nevertheless, the Irish kept on doing what they were used to and when they immigrated to America, they introduced and mixed up their customs with those of other cultures, hence the festival as we know it, with trick-or-treating, Jack O´Lanterns, decorated yards, dressed up children and adults, arose.

Some creative, modern Jack O`Lanterns

By the way: Jack O´Lanterns refer to the carved pumpkins with a candle in them. They are named after Stingy Jack, a man who tricked the devil. God did not want to welcome such an underhand person in heaven and of course the Devil prohibited him entry to hell, so Jack had to wander around on earth. The only thing the Devil gave him, was a burning coal that Jack put into a turnip to be able to light his way.

When this myth was finally brought to America, the pumpkin substituted the turnip. In England, for instance, they used large beets.

There is actually quite a big difference between the various versions of Halloween, depending on the culture. The Dia de los Muertos, an example that surprised me in some way, is held from the 31^st of October to the 2^nd of November in many Spanish speaking countries. The bereaved family and friends construct an altar in honor of the dead and celebrate “together with the spirits of the deceased”. On the last day they assemble at the graveside to picnic, reminiscent and simply have fun thinking about the good old times.

To each his own.

After my intense research on the origins, myths and legends around the 31^st of October, my opinion on the subject has definitely changed. Although the commercial part dampens my enthusiasm, I like the former ghoulish, now rather funny basic idea of the tradition.

Now go and spread the word: Halloween is not American!