THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
04/05/02 -- Vol. 20, No. 40
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
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Topics:
Boskone 39 Convention Report Available
Threes (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The True Provincials (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Boskone 39 Convention Report Available
Evelyn Leeper's Boskone 39 convention report is now available at
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/bosk39.htm.
===================================================================
TOPIC: Threes (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Just this last week the film industry mourned the death of three
men who were known for three very different kinds of comedy. They
were Milton Berle, Dudley Moore, and Billy Wilder. Celebrities in
Hollywood seem to die in threes. I know if I was a Hollywood
celebrity I would never even get into a three. [-mrl]
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TOPIC: The True Provincials (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Probably everybody has gone through the experience of sitting up
at night and thinking about the past. Frequently they find
themselves wishing they had said or done something differently. I
am thinking of something that I said in an elevator in Japan to a
Portuguese woman, a fellow tourist, that was a little facile. I
should have told her a little more. I should have explained
things better. Part of the reason I didn't was that I didn't have
time in the elevator to talk to her in detail to her. Like us the
woman was new to Japan, and she was going through a bit of culture
shock. She said to me that Japan just seemed very strange to her.
Then she said that being Americans, it probably seemed a lot
stranger to us. I told her that no, it did not seem all that
strange to me. That was mostly true.
In fact, what prompted that answer was just that "strange" struck
me as the wrong word to use. She probably concluded from my
response that being an American I was oblivious to the differences
of Japanese and American culture. It could be that some Americans
come to Japan and carry their culture with them. It was like in
China, some American tourists came with a suitcase full of snack
food and instant soup afraid to eat unfamiliar food. Other
Americans probably stay in hotels that reproduce American culture
for them. Japan has such places for Americans to stay that
reproduce our culture fairly well . . . for a price. And in Japan
it would be a heavy price. Sixty dollars for a steak, that sort
of thing is what you hear. In spite of our clothing, which was not
the height of fashion, the woman probably assumed that we were
rich Americans. The truth is that I did find Japan a little
exotic, but her statement obviously showed that she thought that
Americans were very provincial. That is an impression that many
Europeans have of Americans. And it may have been true in the
1940s and it may even be true in parts of the United States even
today. But I do not think it is as true today.
Thinking about it at three in the morning I think what I should
have explained to her is that her view of America is what it once
was, but it really is not today. Americans no longer live
isolated from other cultures. If I want to get in my car and
drive for half an hour I can find myself in a Mexican community
where the language spoken is Spanish and the customs are somewhat
different from those in Mexico, perhaps, but more different from
those on my street. If I want to go in another direction I can be
in an Orthodox Jewish community. Many people dress in the custom
of the old countries. Men have the long curly sideburns and the
flat hats. Yiddish is spoken on the street. The restaurants are
not all Kosher, but many of them are. If I aim my car in another
direction the half hour will take me into an Indian community.
Decorations are of Rama and of Indian festivals. Just at the
moment they are taking down the decorations for Holi. Posters are
up for Hindi films. An hour's drive will take me to a Russian
community with Russian Orthodox churches. There are probably a
few more international cultures living in close proximity that are
not coming to mind at this moment. Certainly if I drive into New
York City which is about an hour away, suddenly there are a lot
more subcultures I could visit. The Black community culture is
different of itself and may exist no place but the United States.
Then there is Ukrainian culture, different from the Russian near
me. I could not even begin to count the number of different
cultures in New York City. (The metric of how long it would take
to drive there breaks down in Manhattan because a different
culture could be five blocks away and it could take a very long
time to drive there. That is more a function of traffic in
Manhattan than of there being a single culture. Michael Caine had
a great line in a movie where he said that he saw an ad for house
in New York that said it is "30 minutes from Fifth Avenue." He
says, "the only thing that is 30 minutes from Fifth Avenue is
Sixth Avenue." But I digress.)
Some people have likened America to a huge melting pot. They say
that many different cultures have melded together into a single
culture. Others say that that is an inaccurate representation.
That assumes too much that each nationality has given up its
individuality and has picked up the mass culture. They would
liken American culture to a stew. In a stew you have many kinds
of food coming together, but here is a piece of meat and it is
entirely a piece of meat. There is a potato and you do not
confuse it with a piece of meat. Yet all of the foods flavor each
other and there is an overall flavor. That is probably a truer
metaphor though the truth is somewhere in between. In any of the
cultural neighborhoods I have mentioned you can probably at least
get by in English and in most English is probably more commonly
spoken than the language of the home country.
Certainly in the metropolitan areas, a lot of the culture shock is
lost at an early age. Most people will have been through moderate
stepping stones to another culture. Most of these Americans can
find themselves in Japan and appreciate that the culture has a
different flavor, but at the same time not be too shocked that
things are strange. The woman from Portugal probably felt that
she was the one who was cosmopolitan in that she is a European.
Her country borders on France and on Spain. She probably feels
that Spain has a very different culture from Portugal. From the
US we do not see so much difference and she would feel that this
is because we are the ones who are ignorant and provincial. In
fact, the reason may be that we daily rub elbows with cultures
that are as alien to us as Spain is to Portugal. Probably they
are as alien as France is to Portugal. It may be that in ways it
is the Europeans who have become provincial in today's world and
Americans who are cosmopolitan in spite of the Europeans' self-
created impression that it is the other way around.
Well, the truth is there were many aspects of Japan that are
different for Americans. Some of Japan might have struck me as at
least a little eccentric. So what I told the woman may have been
a half truth. But the fact is that she was the one standing in
the elevator astonished that Japan was so strange and for me the
degree of difference was no more than I expected and in parts of
Japan disappointingly less than I had hoped for. [-mrl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person
to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God
will not help him.
-- H.L. Mencken
--
Evelyn C. Leeper
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
"Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western
religion, rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of
Western science."
--Gary Zukav, "The Dancing Wu Li Masters"
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