Yesterday my dear Turkish friend Irem sent me a funny picture (see below) about how Americans see the world.  It’s a little incomplete, but not terribly inaccurate.  Some of it is true even for me, at least in part, so I had a good laugh at the picture.  I would like to start with this picture and then examine what it means about how we see the world, not just for Americans but in general.  Through what lenses do we see the world around us?  How often have we stopped to think about it [1]?

Knowing from the start that this map is both incomplete as well as extremely satirical, there is nonetheless a fair amount of truth to the portayal of how Americans see the world, some of which is even true for me, even though my view of the world is far more complicated even than a political map of the world as one would see on an atlas, with its physical relief and language and religions overlaid on top of the political lines.  So, I am clearly not the sort of person who this map is skewering rather humorously.  Perhaps because of that I can laugh at it (and at myself) better than others can.

First, I would like to comment on those aspects of the world that are at least a part of my worldview, as these are worthy of greater comment.  Whenever I see Alaska and Hawaii on the map I too think “more America” as I do to a lesser extent in places like Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa.  After all, most portrayals of the United States are of the continental 48, so to many Americans our two outlying states (both of which I have visited) are indeed “more America,” and a tad bit exotic, with their Polynesian native populations or their eskimos and dog races and polar bears.  Also, Canada more than a couple hundred miles north of the US border is pretty uninhabited anyway, so that isn’t too inaccurate either.

Another part of this worldview that speaks pretty honestly to my worldview is the picture of Mexico and Central America that says “they do our laundry.”  Ouch.  I would also say that they cook at fast food restaurants, do our construction work, and pick our fruits and vegetables (I once commented rather bitingly on that last part, as I grew up in a town where Mexican-American (?) migrant workers picked strawberries and oranges in the agricultural part of Central Florida where I grew up.  The part about “coffee” coming from South America was pretty amusing.  Intriguingly, the person doesn’t comment at all about drugs, which means that they are at least a decent American as far as it goes.

When I look at Antarctica, I too think of how cold it is, how hard it is to get to, and the cute penguins that live there.  Likewise, with Australia I tend to think first of its exotic fauna, like koala bears and kangaroos and echidnas and wombats, all of which I am fond of.  Looking at China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia as “they make our stuff” and “tvs and cameras” is pretty biting but also pretty true.  As someone at least mildly interested in logistics and foreign trade, I am concerned about the fact that other people make our stuff, and answer a lot of calls at customer service centers (often incompetently, though I can’t say I really blame them for it).  Again, even though I see these parts of the world with considerably more nuance, the basic gist of the picture is accurate enough.

This is also true when it comes to “Communists,” “Evil-doers,” “More evil-doers,” and “Pussies.”  All of which have their own historical background.  I often do think of Japan as an evildoer (as well as Nazi Germany) because of their actions in World War II.  I too see the Middle East (apart from Israel) as being inhabited largely by a wicked population of potential terrorists (aside from their minorities of Westernized young people whom I see as largely like myself in their frustrated longings for love, freedom, respect, and a decent living) ruled over by corrupt monarchies or power-mad dictators supported by military rule.  I should note as well that I don’t consider Turkey as part of the Middle East, at least not the Western part of Turkey that I know the best and whose people I think of as Westerners, for better or worse.  The Eastern part of Turkey seems a little more remote and a good deal more dangerous, with the situation of Armenia and the Kurdish people (and whose aspirations for statehood across the Middle East I wholeheartedly support, both for the justice of the matter as well as for its resolution of a major source of tensions between unity and democracy in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria).

The part about Europeans being “pussies” I thought to be particularly humorous, and containing a bit of deadly truth.  After all, Americans have been defending Europe since 1945, and even against Libya the mighty European militaries of Italy, France, and England were unable to even defeat a tinpot loony dictator without American aid.  The Europeans have the capability for massive militaries—it was not too long ago that they ruled over almost all of the world, lest we forget—but right now they seem to lack even the ability or the inclination to defend themselves.  Until that changes they will not be in the mindset to rule over others.

The joke about Communists is a good one also.  I don’t think of Communism specifically when I think of Russia or China (though I do of North Korea and Cuba, it should be admitted, as well as those loony Occupy Wall Street types).  What I do see Russia and China as are nations struggling to put a democratic veneer over their corrupt and authoritarian regimes, trying to control their restive populations and minorities and to add marry capitalist business culture with a dictatorial political culture.  I’m not a fan, but I have to recognize the savvy of China, in particular, in seeking natural resources from all corners of the globe.

The joke about Santa is a good one.  Even if many Americans do not believe in Santa, and have not for many years, our culture tends to glorify Santa.  If one judges us by our television and movies, then we would see the polar regions of the North as the home of Santa.  Thankfully, my parents were not big into preaching that sort of heathen practice, so I never had to worry about that business.

One notable omission on the map is Africa.  Aside from North Africa, which gets lumped the category of “evil doers” of the Middle East, and South Africa (at least its English and Boer minorities), Africa gets lumped into the category of “starving children here,” since that is its portrayal in our media (and about the only time that nations like Ethiopia or Burkina Faso or Somalia are noticed by the ordinary American).  That should have been noted on the map as well, and even the fact that we have our own sliver of Africa close to the United States in Haiti, which is largely also portrayed for its corrupt dictators, frequent coups, and suffering poor people (as are the people of Africa by and large).  These small additions would have balanced the commercialistic streak of Americans with our genuinely humanitarian streak.

A question to ask when looking at a map like this, though, given the fact that it is fairly accurate as a rough sketch of how Americans see the world (even though some of us are far more nuanced), is how we get this opinion of the world.  Who are our teachers?  This sort of picture of the world is easy to gain if we watch movies or look at the often myopic nightly news, or vaguely remember American history (especially World War II), without having the desire to read about the world or see the world in great depth.  And let us be honest, most of us do not desire to read in great depth, even among the leftists who would club the red states over the head with this sort of map.  People get this sort of picture in the world from watching movies made by leftists in Hollywood, watching the liberal media, and going to socialist public schools, so to use such a map in a partisan manner is highly dishonest.  The fact that such a map also portrays aspects of historical reality suggests as well that we ought to examine why we see the world this way, and what it means.  And could the world be seeing Americans through as biased and as mistaken lenses?  The wise among us would suspect so.

[1] http://www.funny-games.biz/pictures/850-world-map.html