A NZer takes Amtrak

[meatpuff]

OK, here's a new article about some guy from New Zealand who took Amtrak and drove all around America and wrote a book about it. He writes as such an outsider, like an anthropologist studying a tribe of hunter-gatherers, that it's kind of jarring to read. He is complimentary about the USA, calling it "the greatest country on Earth," but it's obvious he has a lot to learn about America (and Amtrak!).

Article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4447002a34.html

Check out these passages.

Those who use the trains regularly are Blacks, students, Amish and generally a poorer sector of society – as well as train freaks. Then there are the regular travellers who book their holidays every year, he says.

"We think of it as a developed country. . . but developed doesn't apply to America in a way. It remains a frontier country."
In fact, he says, with the gap between the rich and the poor, plus the poor response to Hurricane Katrina, it could even be described as Third World.

He refers to a fragment he read in a book by the Argentinian writer Luis Borges, who pointed out North America is not so unlike South America.

"The history of the place and the habits of the place are so extreme . . . so much blood has been shed," he says.

Yeah, so much blood spilled here in America's history compared to a civilized place like...Western Europe.

He was fascinated to find so much of America is made up of Bible Belt communities that are "pre-modern", where people believe God is working through them and that Satan is alive.

If he thinks the Bible Belt is such an astonishing place, good thing he didn't meet our President!

As much as America's an extremely modern society, in many places he felt as if nothing had changed since the Pilgrim Fathers. Even New York still appears like a series of villages.

He describes [Mark Twain] as a "phenomenal teller of tales" and "a gorgeous man" who was "far and away America's – if not the world's – favourite individual in the latter part of his life" (and perhaps the first well known travel writer).
Listening to radio while driving across the country he often wondered how the modern DJs and religious right wing commentators "hammering at people" became so popular and he questioned how and when great intellectuals and satirists like Twain went "out of the American consciousness".

I do weep for visitors to America who rent cars and turn on the radio to the talk stations in the morning and afternoon and get waaaay the wrong idea about the place!

 

[Green Maned Lion]

To be honest with, a good portion of it is true. Its exaggerated, but true. The thing is, in other places, things are just as "backwards" but in different ways. To be frank, it often seems to me like most of humanity is devolving into a bunch of greedy, selfish, bureaucratic, belligerent gorillas. I mean, Congress debates for days about the merits of issuing non-binding resolutions. Which is basically a tome of paper describing the intricacies of the compromised position more than half of the people were able to tolerating voting their agreement to.

People going around, seemingly, with either agreeing with abortion, but not the death penalty, or vice versa. Most people I met who are pro-life are pro-death penalty and pro-choice are generally against it. The more religious people I have met are often the most inclined to steal, be selfish, be greedy, and god knows what all. They're good people because they pray to Jesus/Hashem/Bhuddah/Allah/Zeus/Jupiter/Hisochridrirevowitzasaur of the great trickle creek Jinjanggoberg. And if one doesn't pray to one of the above, they are bad/evil/stupid/satanists/unholy despite the fact that they haven't stolen a thing in their life, and couldn't tell a lie if they tried.

Everybody debates everything, concentrates on the most ridiculously unimportant issues (Remember Terri Schiavo?) while ignoring important things. Politicians argue like children about who won what, without even bothering to think of the benefit of the people they are allegedly supposed to serve.

I mean, there are pluses to this country, and I generally find it as tolerable as anywhere else. But think about what our quirky idiocy looks like to visitors! Probably very similar to what their quirky idiocy looks like to us.

 

[NapTown Jim]

Interesting, but Alexis de Tocqueville he his not.

 

[caravanman]

One of the great freedoms is the freedom to differ, to have a different point of view. Every tourist, every author, brings something of their unique perspective to a travel narrative. I find that a lot of the stuff you quote rings true to me, and echos my own thoughts. It is not meant as a "sleight", simply an observation by a frequent visitor. There seems to be a polarisation in many peoples beliefs.. "are you one of our kind" or "are you different, and so need to be seen as an enemy" It is ok to think for oneself and have another viewpoint, lets not start burning books we don't agree with!

Ed B)

 

[meatpuff]

One of the great freedoms is the freedom to differ, to have a different point of view. Every tourist, every author, brings something of their unique perspective to a travel narrative. I find that a lot of the stuff you quote rings true to me, and echos my own thoughts. It is not meant as a "sleight", simply an observation by a frequent visitor. There seems to be a polarisation in many peoples beliefs.. "are you one of our kind" or "are you different, and so need to be seen as an enemy" It is ok to think for oneself and have another viewpoint, lets not start burning books we don't agree with!
Ed B)

Thanks Ed, I appreciate your point of view.

There is definitely a grain of truth to the words of the writer I quoted. He is revealing some things about America that the most casual global observer wouldn't be aware of. This most casual global observer of America I believe thinks of America as a relentlessly modern and forward-thinking and rich and intelligent place: and uniformly so. And it is NOT UNIFORMLY so; and most importantly it is NOT uniformly anything. I think one of the things that many visitors to America are most surprised about is how inhomogeneous it is. The visitor to America who flies into New York may suddenly discover that America after all isn't the America of Hollywood, or the America where cowboys still ride. But the mistake he might make is that what he saw in New York City is not the whole story of America either. The America of the movies, the America where the noble cowboy still rides, the America of astonishing wealth, the America of the backwards and impoverished hillbilly town, the America where certain areas of our big cities are unsafe to walk in the daytime, the America of vast open spaces, all DO exist today. The country is just such so HUGE and diverse compared to those that many visitors come from.

Now this writer seems to have come to this epiphany, he stayed here long enough to understand that such-and-such region of America is so different from this other region that it may as well be a country of its own. But what he has not yet realized is the diversity within one region of America, and how it can be difficult to categorize. For example he paints the American South as a region of poverty and general backwardness. And there is astonishing poverty in the South, but at the same time in Atlanta you have the headquarters of 12 Fortune 500 companies and Houston is a world center of biomedical research. The writer is astonished at how religious the Bible Belt is, but he would probably be surprised to learn of how many corporate executives living in northern cities also believe God is working through them and that Satan is alive. Finally, he mentions the right-wing radio hosts, who can be heard daily on radio stations in every city in the USA, "red", "blue" or "purple". But does he know that even though Sean Hannity broadcasts out of Manhattan and is heard every day on local stations, that the Republican party he is a mouthpiece for hasn't won more than 40% of the state of New York in a Presidential election in two decades?

So this is why the New Zealand writer's analysis sounds so strange to American ears. He has been here long enough to know different parts of America can be categorized, but he did so only with broad strokes of the brush. It's as though the picture of America is the Mona Lisa, and he tried to paint that picture, but used a paint roller.

 

[caravanman]

Hi Meatpuff,

I don't think we differ too much in our reading of the United States, it is a wonderful mix of developed and frontier, hillbilly and sophistication, the best and the worst, depending on your point of view. Tourists can only skim the surface. I love the raw energy, the every man for himself, while at the same time being shocked by the lack of social services for the down and out.. Yours is a young country, and you have a way to travel, us Europeans are old and tired, but we are also frightened by the apparent lack of self awareness, the gung ho nature of you young guns!

Ed B)

 

[Guest]

"500 companies and Houston is a world center of biomedical research."For example he paints the American South as a region of poverty and general backwardness. And there is astonishing poverty in the South, but at the same time in Atlanta you have the headquarters of 12 Fortune

...try Huntsville, ALABAMA with more rocket scientists and engineers than most American cities (Mr. Hannity spent time there and the awful Neal Boortz speaks highly of Huntsville from his perch in Atlanta) ...Research Triangle in NC...New Orleans with a culture that is in reality a treasure that will be rebuilt and kept in place by those strong enough to endure, as they have for centuries. I usually find that those who categorize the South as backwards or any other epithet have actually not been there or been one-on-one in an in-depth conversation with any local. As Will Rogers said, "everyone is ignorant, just on different subjects". I can go to regions of any state in the country and find people I would find far more backwards than anyone in the South. The South got p****d on for some long recovering from the Civil War that many believe it is still the South under Reconstruction. Yes, we do value our eccentricities, history (which that damned Yankee, Sherman tried to burn out from under us) and traditions and wouldn't be caught dead doing what some of our fellow countrymen in other parts of the country do. (Want an insult: we think of the women in the upper northwest who won't dress up for men and forget to shave as "granola girls".)I know of no Southerner who would one day decide to up and retire to New Jersey. We just don't think like that. Go to the Coastal Georgia town of Midway and you'll find a very old, now-country church which bears the distinction of having had in attendance a number of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Fast forward to Atlanta and other parts of the South and you'll find men of such thinking as to believe that people should be judged, not based on the color of their skin, but on their character and whose thinking and actions have influenced the world. From Atlanta come organizations such as Friendship Force which brings together citizens from different countries, many at war with each other, has them sleep and fellowship in each other's homes and gets them to relate to each other as individuals in an attempt to foster understanding. This is far better than standing in a corner of the world, lacking understanding and judging other regions from your own bias (I'm sure granola girls have a reason for their actions, I just don't know what.) From the New Orleans crewbase is one non-Southern attendant who heads the Louisiana Basque Society and has spent time uncovering Basque roots in the South. He had the insight to look deeper than the average visitor to the South.

...Raised in Huntsville (child of the space program) but,rooted in Georgia back to the 1600's. A plane departs from this place every day for any part of the world I could possibly want to see, but this is place enough for me and layers yet to be discovered.... one of which is that river with white banks lined with cedar trees somewhere between Tuscaloosa and Laurel, MS that you can see from the train.

 

[caravanman]

I suppose that we are getting off Amtrak as a topic here, but it seems to me that because an area is described as poor, or undeveloped, folk get up in arms. Tourism is not meant to be a competition.. all places have their merits. Goodness, my point is: lets celebrate the differences, not pretend they don't exist. How sad I would be to visit New Orleans, and find it just like Nottingham, England, which is where I live. Lets not all insult each other just because we can't agree to differ!

Ed. B)