Soccer & Patriotism

In the good old US of A, football (from here on out referred to as soccer - it's name in the good old US of A) has never found an audience like it has in the rest of the world. We have a slew of our own sports that we play seriously on our own, and we don't want anyone else to join in, so stay away! We call our championships things like "The World Series," despite the fact that the whole world doesn't participate.

The interesting thing about soccer, however, is that it remains the "most played" game in America for children. Why is that? It's cheap! There's no real equipment or uniforms, save for cleats and shin guards. As more and more people found themselves hard up in the late 80's and early 90's, participation skyrocketed. "Come on little Jimmy, I know you want to play baseball but soccer is just as fun [and way cheaper, which means we can also buy that new TV I had my eye on]." Needless to say, my generation - early 80's babies - grew up knowing all the rules and understanding "The World's Game." Now here we are, mid-twenties, and the World Cup is happening! We've probably traveled outside North America, which means we "get" that there are more countries beyond Canada and Mexico, and we LIKE the idea of participating with them. Imagine that! To top it off, Team USA is actually quite good! So we watch, and we watch in HUGE numbers. In fact, more people watched World Cup Soccer than watched the NBA finals!

This seems like a good thing, right? People coming together, supporting their country, rallying behind something, and engaging with the world. This is true, of course, unless you're Fox News. In fact, Fox News - who aired many of the games on cable - used the newfound popularity of Soccer to launch an anti-Democratic tirade about how Soccer is part of a broader Democratic Communist plot to turn America into a "World Country," asking poignant questions like "why do we want to play with the rest of the World anyway?" I know what you're thinking - HUH? But it's true, according to Glen Beck (who has literally millions of viewers every night). Now THAT is spin.

I'm gonna go with no. I'm gonna go with the notion that this is good for America, especially in the current context of unemployment, recession, and general sadness. I don't know why Glen Beck is so hateful and so wildly angry at the notion of Americans being proud and patriotic, but I'd like to see him watch this clip and tell me he doesn't feel just the slightest bit of patriotism, pride, and exhilaration. Well done America. WELL DONE!

A Conversation on Authenticity

Over the past several years I’ve heard many a tourist talk about getting the “authentic” experience somewhere because there were a) not too many foreign tourists b) tons of locals who were so “real” or c) no guidebooks on the place, it was SO remote and “authentic.” I’ve decided I really don’t understand this concept of authenticity.



What does one mean by authentic to begin with? Does it mean that it’s just like it has always been? There’s no way for us to know if it is changed or not because we weren’t there “before” whatever “before” was, so it’s a futile point to argue. Plus, our presence as tourists, foreigners or just other people inherently changes the nature of a city, village, town, bar, etc. It is thus no longer “authentic” (again, whatever that means).

I think it has become a western notion of “real travel” to find somewhere that is truly “authentic” which seemingly now means “unchanged” or “non-western.” The irony is that our very ventures to these distant and far-off places in search of our own authenticity inherently de-authenticates them, further fueling a more uniform and arguably less interesting world. So then, what’s the solution? Stop traveling? Never. Tread lightly? Better. End the pursuit of “other,” accept your own role in affecting a place and a people and take it for what it is rather than what you want it to be? Perfect.



Take Shanghai and Beijing, for example. Numerous people talk of Beijing as more “real China.” While I’m not going to debate that argument, what I will say is how any of us have any clue as to what “real China” is. Did we live through thousands of years of dynastic rule followed by sixty years of communism followed by quite possibly the greatest societal “opening” in history? No. I think what we’re really saying is we want to see pigs on the back of motorbikes, total chaos in traffic patterns, street food outlets and mystical “Chinese” structures because it’s what we expect China to be. That attitude implies some level of dominance, which is the first thing to shed when you hit the road.



Rather than judging based on our own notion of what to expect, try to take it all in context. It’s not only more realistic, but more fulfilling in the end, as there is far less disappointment. Speaking of disappointment, I was so sad to hear they banned amplified sound in parks. It’s just “so China.”

--

Kyle Taylor

Man, My Generation Is Awesome

This article absolutely sums up exactly how I feel about the power of my generation, and how we're truly going to change the world. Couldn't have said it better myself!

Click here for the article.