Tuesday, November 01, 2005
SA vs USA part 2
Also found Americans more cautious drivers - especially around children. If someone was crossing the road, the cars would stop about 20 metres down the road for them (admittedly this was in Sharon, Mass. - not the biggest town around but still, that wouldn't happen in small town SA).
That said, driving in New York city traffic was one of the most hair-raising experiences of my life. Travelling at around 100km's (around 60mph) with a following distance of about a metre in 6 lane traffic...my heart still goes cold when I think about it.
Last time I checked, hardly anyone in the States sms's (or texts). Cellphones are for phone calls. Whereas trying to send an sms here on New Years Eve is almost impossible - paydirt for our cellphone companies.
Was told in Philadelphia to not refer to African Americans as "black" and in Boston to not make any jokes based on a person's colour. We do that all the time here - and it's hilarious (if done in good taste)! I think we exploit the racial stereotypes quite well - and often to great effect - especially in some well thought-out advertisments. I'll let Bonnie explain the Vodacom "black guys in taxi crashing into a shack with white guys watching rugby" ad sometime - for me it's the ad of the year.
Played baseball in high school, but very badly. Even among a team of fairly athletic guys I don't think we'd be able to make a double-play then. And basketball...my goodness. I remember playing ball against some inner-city Boston kids - myself and a British guy called Will got our butts royally kicked - and we looked pretty stupid in the process. But hey, we're white, and white men can't jump.
In terms of political climate and attitude towards the States...well, you could hardly call us friendly. In fact, the media here gives a pretty one-sided view of American government and Bush to the extent that most people think Bush is an arrogant numbskull who barely passed high school, has an underdeveloped vocabulary (thanks to widespread "Bushisms" - like "most of our imports come from other countries"), is an inept leader (thanks to Michael Moore's depiction of him in "Farenheit 9/11") and is a warmonger (direct quote from many newspapers and journalists) intent on finishing what his Dad started in Iraq.
Not that the American media is much better - a friend of mine returned from the States a few months after Bush was elected (and yes, he happened to be in North Carolina) with the firm conviction that Bush was brilliant, could do no wrong, was a great leader and exactly what the country needed. He couldn't believe that we had such a different view of him and after a few months of our media had his view completely reversed. Not that I'm saying that Bush is good or bad - that's not my point - my point is simply that most people's view of Bush is almost completely dictated to them by the media they choose to consume. Rather than seeing reality we're quite happy with the reality we're given - and that's the same whether in the States or South Africa.
That said, driving in New York city traffic was one of the most hair-raising experiences of my life. Travelling at around 100km's (around 60mph) with a following distance of about a metre in 6 lane traffic...my heart still goes cold when I think about it.
Last time I checked, hardly anyone in the States sms's (or texts). Cellphones are for phone calls. Whereas trying to send an sms here on New Years Eve is almost impossible - paydirt for our cellphone companies.
Was told in Philadelphia to not refer to African Americans as "black" and in Boston to not make any jokes based on a person's colour. We do that all the time here - and it's hilarious (if done in good taste)! I think we exploit the racial stereotypes quite well - and often to great effect - especially in some well thought-out advertisments. I'll let Bonnie explain the Vodacom "black guys in taxi crashing into a shack with white guys watching rugby" ad sometime - for me it's the ad of the year.
Played baseball in high school, but very badly. Even among a team of fairly athletic guys I don't think we'd be able to make a double-play then. And basketball...my goodness. I remember playing ball against some inner-city Boston kids - myself and a British guy called Will got our butts royally kicked - and we looked pretty stupid in the process. But hey, we're white, and white men can't jump.
In terms of political climate and attitude towards the States...well, you could hardly call us friendly. In fact, the media here gives a pretty one-sided view of American government and Bush to the extent that most people think Bush is an arrogant numbskull who barely passed high school, has an underdeveloped vocabulary (thanks to widespread "Bushisms" - like "most of our imports come from other countries"), is an inept leader (thanks to Michael Moore's depiction of him in "Farenheit 9/11") and is a warmonger (direct quote from many newspapers and journalists) intent on finishing what his Dad started in Iraq.
Not that the American media is much better - a friend of mine returned from the States a few months after Bush was elected (and yes, he happened to be in North Carolina) with the firm conviction that Bush was brilliant, could do no wrong, was a great leader and exactly what the country needed. He couldn't believe that we had such a different view of him and after a few months of our media had his view completely reversed. Not that I'm saying that Bush is good or bad - that's not my point - my point is simply that most people's view of Bush is almost completely dictated to them by the media they choose to consume. Rather than seeing reality we're quite happy with the reality we're given - and that's the same whether in the States or South Africa.
Technorati Tags: America, South Africa
# posted by Roger Saner @ 9:58 am 
