...And Americans Are Superficial??

Just a quick rant.

It's kind of common knowledge that Americans are perceived to be stupid, fat, and superficial. Right? I've already ranted about this. But what I haven't ranted about quite yet is how unfounded that stereotype is compared to other cultures - specifically mediterreanean cultures. And specifically Israel.

When I was in talks with various kibbutzim in the spring to see if I could set a living situation up before I was going to go into the army, I had a bizzarre exchange of emails with the Baram kibbutz secretary. At first it was just the regular Israeli bullshit - questions tinged with distrust about "what sort of horrible things does this guy want to do to our kibbutz"/"how will he fuck us over". Then, as I got my boss to send them a 500 word recommendation about what a nice/innocent/quality guy I was, they started to warm up.. But of course the recommendation did nothing to paint the real picture that the kibbutz secretary wanted - my actual picture.

"Could you please send a few pictures of yourself that might help us with our decision"

ummm. Ok.

Anyway, the other things that I notice in Israel with regard to superficiality is an obsession with jewelry, shiny things, and hair. It's just my observation, and maybe I'm just paying too much attention to it, but girls on dates or girls who are glitzed up for a night on the town constantly check themselves out if they even remotely sense that there might be a shiny surface in front of which they could shamelessly check themselves out for a minute. The weirdest part is that boyfriends just stand, staring admiringly, entranced by this high maintenance idiot and her grooming skills.

Americans may generally like big cars, big houses and big tvs. But Israelis have them covered in spades with the whole physical appearance superficiality thing. That's it. Rant complete.

Country Music and Hebrew

When I lived in Tel Aviv, I used to feel strange every now and then when I was riding my bike, listening to country music that I had a craving for, and stopping for a conversation about Israeli politics in Hebrew with my friend down the street. It made me feel like two worlds were colliding.

"She said you're a ramblin man. You aint never gonna change. You got a gypsy soul to blame and you were born for leavin".

"אגב מה דעתך על ההפגנה דיור?"

But I guess I've kinda always felt like that - I was the quiet guy in college who would play dream pop acoustic songs and bluegrass music, who just so happened to play bass in hip hop shows at fraternities: douche bags, gin and juice, and me, Mr. Sensitivo acoustic guy puttin down some mad bass line behind some black dude's rhymes. In elementary school, I was the inner city kid who had moved to the suburbs after getting stabbed with pins and living in a drive by shooting zone. The notable city "strut" that I had been procuring up until that point, that was widely commented on by my new teachers and friends, was strangely juxtaposed to my new life of smiling, good posture, good grammar, and a 99% white student body.

This is what modernity has produced as a side effect. Increased mobility and ease of information dissemination has created a higher chance that people will have attachments to different cultures that, when juxtaposed, create a strange, dissonant noise.

The whole reason I bring this up, is because every now and then I find it hard to reconcile the fact that I'm a guy who could see himself living in a cabin in the Colorado mountains, fishing and hunting and listening to country, and also driving around in an armored tank, speaking Hebrew and carrying an M16. These two things are so different from each other and come really from different worlds that never, never intersect. Maybe this is what adventuring creates. This blog is even a product of worlds colliding, creating dissonance. But what can I say. Sometimes I enjoy the sound.