The map above was sent to me in an e-mail. You know, the type of e-mail that is meant as pure humor. There really was no commentary attached, the map itself was the joke. At first, I just sighed and was going to hit delete. I considered it just some sophomoric humor, say about college level.
But, as I looked a little closer, I realized that the theme for the USA is “Freedom and Jesus.” That changed my mind a little. I cannot tell if the person who drew the map considers themselves an Evangelical Christian or is simply making fun of them. I could argue it either way. But, I am all too aware that there are at least a sizeable group of Christians in the USA who end up stating views that essentially see the world as pictured above.
The other thing that is troublesome about the map above is that it also expresses an implied Christian view in the USA. And that view is that our Christianity is the really true Christianity. It is why Evangelical Christians send missionaries even to countries that have strong Protestant groups doing their own domestic missions and evangelism. For instance Baptist missionaries to Australia are being sent to a country that has had its own quite evangelistic Baptist churches since the 1830’s, as well as quite a number of other strong Evangelical groups.
It is also why Evangelical groups in the USA have trouble hearing their brothers and sisters in other countries. In order to hear someone else, you have to acknowledge that they could possibly know something that you could stand to learn. And, all too often we have trouble acknowledging that as a culture.
I wonder if that makes us French? [Sorry, after all that I could not resist a bad cultural joke.]
Given the use of the word “shitty” over Alaska, I’d lean towards the latter option, that the artist is making fun of evangelicals.
Yeah, the other parts of the list also suggest that the map is a satire:
“drugs and supermodels”
“yu-gi-oh & really bad porn”
“Bjork” (really, how many evangelicals ever name drop Bjork in reference to anything, let alone as the sole identifying feature of a nation?)
The use of “centre” and the absence of Alaska suggest it may not even have been an American and it certainly wasn’t a Canadian. 🙂 Leonard Cohen isn’t THAT bad.
You are SSSSOOOO right, the spelling “centre” puts it fairly well outside North America. And, the mention of Björk puts it in Europe. Nice bit of deduction! Did you ever think of writing detective novels?
I’ll stick with writing chamber music for guitar and woodwinds. 😉 I’m better at that.
Nor is Joni Mitchell.
I’d say the artist is a Brit.
And you say “Freedom and Jesus” like it’s a bad thing 🙂
Well, let’s see: which Jesus are we talking about?
Regarding freedom: On balance, I doubt that U.S. citizens are any more free than the residents of Canada or the nations of Western Europe. In some ways, we may be less free (unless we are independently wealthy).
Because in the USA “freedom” does not mean political freedom, as in the movie Braveheart. Rather, it means freedom from any responsibility towards others. I do not mean merely social responsibility, but all too often it is also a tendency towards isolationism. And, it means a freedom from promises made by anyone else. Thus, the USA is all too well known for not keeping treaties because there is no sense that a signed pledge by a government should be kept if the party in power changes. And it means a freedom from finding solutions for problems from before one’s time. Much of the debates that have raged over African-Americans and over immigration have been fought on the premise that no one currently bears any responsibility for anyone else’s previous actions, even if the harm of those actions continues to impact current society.
If it was a British subject, which it appears to be, the satire on the USA is that our freedom has a strange definition and Jesus is often used to defend actions which He might not have supported. That is, Jesus is used in contexts where it might be wiser to state one’s opinion as solely one’s own rather than claiming that it is Jesus’ opinion as well.
I wonder why Australia is labelled “racists”.
Maybe a reference to relations between non-native Australians and the aborigenes?
There is also an aversion to “pommies”, which is rhyming slang, and short for “pomegranate” which rhymes (more or less) with “immigrant”. These are mostly Asians, I think, coming and taking the menial jobs.
Now we’re back to the Mexican immigrant/Arizona topic… Sorry.
The term Pommie, comes from the term “Pome” or how it’s pronounced “Pom”.
P.O.M.E. stands for Prisoner Of Mother England, it’s a retort to the English referring to us as convicts.
Nothing to do with pomegranates, sorry.
As for the map, Australia more racist than America? I don’t think so.
To further the “What must they think of us?” question: I saw on a TV program a while back where some British acting students were assigned to give their impressions of Americans. The female acting student kept putting her hands on her cheeks, in the manner of Munch’s “Scream” and saying, “Oh, my GOD! Oh, my GOD!” The male studet kept tipping an imaginary cowboy hat and saying, “How-DEE! How-DEE!”
I giggled at the Yu-Gi-Oh reference.
It’s clearly the works of an alienated Canadian youth.
• Only someone from inside Canada would be able to turn a deaf ear to Mitchell, Sexsmith, Mclachlan and others.
• The Canadian music scene is more open to influences from outside- Björk.
• Silly ideas about vikings are not typical for northern Europe.
• The clear sighted analysis of the US situation suggests a person viewing things from a vantage point close by, but still with the ability to maintain some perspective.
Besides…
I know lots of Americans that are bad at spelling.
…and Why would the inclusion of Alaska in the shitty-music-and-bear-belt be so terribly wrong? It’s not a map of state territories.
One more thing… he he… Note how Denmark is not in the viking area. Hm, this is clearly not someone from northern Europe.
Mr wise guy
This is definitively no one from the northen Europe because:
1) Half of Finland is Vikings half of finland is art. Finland is not really known for any of this.
2) There is hardly any scandinavian porn produced (sadly enough).
There is a great chance that the one making this map i from some english-speaking country because the rest of the world does not have call centers in India.
It could however be someone of icelandic origin. Who else would characterize Canada as shitty music and beer? And Björk is correctly spelled with an ö and not an o.
Pommies is Aussie slang for Englishmen, or, often, and more specifically, British immigrants to Australia.
Australia may be designated as racist because they do have racial issues including aboriginal integration into society, immigration issues, riots involving Lebanese immigrants etc. By many Australia is viewed as an intolerant society, though probably unfairly.
Note:
There is no comment on the British isles, though they appear pink.
Mexico – is it know for porn?
Bjork – well known by many in the US.
Alaska – made to look like part of Canada.
I think the map is done with cheeky good humor and I got a laugh from it. Nice to read you blog Father!