[Note: This is the third of three emails that I sent back to my friends in New Zealand and Australia, while I was visiting my family in the USA in early 2003.]

—–Original Message—–
From: G.L. Jordan [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 7:52 AM

Subject: Letters to Civilisation (Three)

Dear Friends,

It is almost 1AM, Friday 21 March. It seems that there is too much going through my head for sleep. My mother sleeps with the TV on (it is almost never off when anyone is home here). The other night when there was a tornado nearby, the satellite TV went down and there was widespread panic in this household. You would think that we were in orbit and life-support had shut down. “What are we going to do now?” was heard more than once. I suggested that we talk – a bit out there, I know – and I was looked at like I was insane. It also seems that my mum and brother are collecting DVDs (DVDs they have seen and don’t intend to watch soon) – my brother says that they are for “in case the satellite goes off”.

My brother, Allen, and I went to Fort Sill yesterday to visit the place where Geronimo was imprisoned until his death. When we got to the military base (probably the largest infantry base in the USA), the country was on “Orange Alert” (between yellow and red, it seems). There were roadblocks to the base and we had to get out of the truck (ute) so the soldiers could go through the truck. After they were finished doing everything but a cavity search and we were permitted to proceed, Allen asked where Geronimo had been kept.The half a dozen soldiers there laughed among themselves and said that they had no idea. The apathy here in the state originally “Indian Territory” regarding Native Americans is not limited to those soldiers. I imagine that it is similar to what regard Aborigines were held by Euro-Australians, before the tourism value of Aborigines became apparent (not that things are much better now).

Tuesday 25 March 2003

I have had to get away from the PC for a few days. During that time, I have gone to eat at a restaurant that used to be a general store in a mountainous (if you can call anything “mountainous” around here) gold-mining area, I went to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum (one of those “must do items”- note the sarcasm here), I have been to numerous truck-stop greasy spoons (24 hour freeway-side restaurants) and I have done more shopping than I would do for months in Australasia.

The shopping here is fabulous. If a person lives for such, there is nowhere else to live. Having lived in Australasia so long, everything seems so extravagant here. I had chocolate milk while shopping the other day and the container was thick glass (a quart – almost one litre). After I finally managed to finish the drink, I asked where to drop off the glass for recycling. “We don’t recycle those” (actually, they recycle almost nothing).I felt extremely guilty throwing away such – it was thicker than the milk bottles we put out in NZ for home milk deliveries. Also, I must say that I have missed the quality and sizes of clothes here. I have always hated the low quality clothes sold in Australia (especially those paper-thin t-shirts). I found myself drooling over the heavyweight t-shirts here and it was good to put on a 2XL shirt that wasn’t sized in Asia and actually was a bit big on me.

When I lived here before, I didn’t notice so many commercials regarding medications. It seems now that every second or third commercial is trying to sell some sort of medicine. I have heard for years about the “greying of America”, but this is over the top. When I was a teenager, it seemed that all advertising was geared towards people my age. That has certainly changed now, as most commercials seem geared towards retired Americans. It is funny to hear a commercial for allergies (wow, a commercial just now came on for this while I am typing this email) at the end of which there is a statement such as, “the side-effects can include heart palpations, impotence and temporary memory loss”. Uh, I think I will keep my allergies – thank you very much!

As you may be able to tell, I am trying to get my comments regarding war and the ludicrous state of American politics to a minimum. For those of you who know me well, you will realise that it is a difficult thing indeed for me to keep my opinions to myself. It is good to imagine, however, that there are people somewhere on this planet who share some of my views (read here,”are sane”), as at the moment I am surrounded by what seems mass insanity. There is virtually no one here who would have views anything like mine and even those Americans who consider themselves to the far left politically, would be considered right-wing from my perspective.

I am thankful that I am no longer an American taxpayer, as at least I can say that I am not funding this war – predicted to be 75 billion USD for the first 30 days, according to CNN. If even a fraction of the money wasted on such enterprises was put into education and social services, this country would have the highest standard of living on the planet. Instead, the Republicans try to create economic stimulation by military spending (thank you, Ronald Reagan) and in the meantime, they not only endanger the lives of all of us living on this planet, but they also create debt for future generations of taxpayers in this country. Damn, there I go talking about politics and war again!

One of the bright spots during this trip was to watch Mike Moore at the Oscars. It was good to see someone get up and actually say something of value. Of course, the press here were very negative regarding his comments. In fact, they were extremely caustic and I found myself shocked (I should be used to this by now) by the negative spin they put on his speech. To promote free speech in one breath and then call someone “Un-American” (a term I despise) for practicing that free speech is extremely ludicrous. It is interesting to imagine that journalists in America generally consider themselves to be liberal, when they are among the most conservative elements of this society (excluding the religious right, of course). I have never seen such right wing journalism and they have no right to talk about the use of the press for political means in Iraq, when they practice the same thing here.

It seems I am unable to get away from discussing politics.

Watching my fair share of news here, I have come to see a strong distinction between “knowledge” and “wisdom”. When I was an undergraduate taking a philosophy unit all those years ago, I seem to remember the professor trying to communicate to the classroom this distinction. Later, when I moved to Australia, I was shocked by how little the average Aussie knew of world events. Even Australians with university degrees seemed unwilling – or unable – to discuss world events, history, etc. Looking back on all that now and watching the news here, I realise how much knowledge is fed to people here, but how little they think for themselves. Perhaps it is easy to think that being shown detailed maps of Iraq and troop movements is to understand this war, but no one seems to be asking logical questions about why we are there. Information is not wisdom and this distinction is completely lost on the citizenry here. People are being fed information and feel that they understand, when no one is asking any in-depth questions regarding the appropriateness of this war or the effect (especially on the viability of the United Nations) of allowing a few rogue states to declare war on a nation-state who has not invaded them – actions that historically put these leaders in the same category as Mussolini and Hitler.

Speaking of Hitler, it is interesting to note “we are going to bring democracy to these people”. Of course, Americans feel that everyone on this planet would be like them, if only given the chance. We tried to impose democracy on Weimar Germany and we learned nothing from this experience, it seems. It would seem quite logical and almost unnecessary to say that people have to want to govern themselves for democracy to work. This point seems lost on Americans. Weimar Germany faded into history because Germans were not accustomed to thinking in democratic terms and when they got the chance, they democratically voted in a dictator. We only have to look at the region in which Iraq exists to see that democracy is a largely foreign concept and will be viewed as American imperialism by many in the region.

Perhaps needless to say, I am trying not to focus on these considerations while I am here. There would be virtually no one to speak to, as I might as well go around speaking in Maori here, as to attempt to have a logical discussion. So, I am trying to focus on hedonist America – eating, purchasing, etc. While it is impossible to replace stimulating discussion with such material pursuits, when in Rome, do as the Romans.

Until later, cobbers.

Jerry

P.S. I just saw on CNN that Halliburton Company (Vice-President Dick Cheney’s former employer) has gotten a contract to help re-build Iraq. Halliburton was founded about ten minutes from here (my mum’s house) and still, I believe, has their international headquarters here. Well, that will bring a lot of jobs to my fellow Oklahomans and will allow them to continue to live to the high consumer standard that they are accustomed. Some Iraqis die and are maimed to keep our standard of living high – a great trade-off, wouldn’t you say?

P.P.S. I just heard that Arabic news agencies are being squeezed out of satellite usage as they aren’t considered to be responsible journalists. Let’s bring democracy to Iraq, by controlling the information they receive. The Third Reich’s Minister of Propaganda would have been proud.

[Note: This is the second of three emails that I sent back to my friends in New Zealand and Australia, while I was visiting my family in the USA in early 2003.]

—–Original Message—–
From: G.L. Jordan [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 12:48 PM

Subject: Letters to Civilisation (Two)

Dear Friends,

“Last minute preparations for war . . . ” It seems that I always sit down to email while the television is on. MSNBC is on at the moment and if the situation wasn’t so sombre, it would be amusing. There is a very effective aspect of American propaganda – it is to discuss a given topic until people are willing to allow anything, as long as it means that the story of the moment changes. I have heard people repeatedly say things to the effect, “I wish they would just go in and get it over with. I am tired of hearing about this.” Of course this type of news treatment is not limited to war preparation/coverage, but it is especially effective at making people callous to the coming suffering of others.

After the recent explosion of the space shuttle Columbia, I was speaking to my mum on the phone and I predicted the sequence in which this topic would be covered by the American news media. It was something along the lines of coverage of the explosion followed by a history of the shuttle program; an examination of those major companies involved with creation of the shuttle; an examination of NASA (including the Challenger explosion); a glimpse into the lives of the astronauts killed aboard Columbia; interviews with their friends, family and neighbours……blah, blah, blah. No one can beat a topic into the ground like the yanks. Eventually, you couldn’t care less about the event – just please, please, please talk about something else. The next tragedy comes as a relief, as it gives the press something else to talk about. Of course, you know that it is all about entertainment for us (Americans) anyway, don’t you? Combine our short attention span with the reality that aggressive action against Iraq allows Americans to focus their fears and feelings of impotence on a tangible adversary and this war is a Republican administration’s wet dream.

They are quoting Shakespeare and Churchill at the moment in support for war.. I will leave this topic now, or I will not stop for ages.

There is another bit of news at the moment and I am hesitant to bring it up, as I am not yet privy to all the information. I will, however, mention it, as it seems to relate to me, somehow. It seems that some fellow named “Jesus” died for me – at least that is what the multiple-storied floodlighted billboards, bumper stickers and a host of t-shirts seem to indicate. I am only starting to get the gist of what has happened, but it seems that some sadomasochistic fellow (a foreigner, by the way) has sacrificed himself to appease his pissed off father. Sounds like the plot for a b grade movie to me, but the locals are raving on and on about it. The depictions of this bloke that I have seen to date make him look like some 70s hippie sort who only needs a pair of beads around his neck to fit the part. A tailor and a good haircut would not go astray. Of course, now that he is dead it may be a bit late for such considerations, but you would think that the PR firm promoting his cause could tidy his image up a bit and find an “American connection”, so that they could downplay the fact he is of foreign origin. There seems to be some attempt at this, as I saw a man in Wal-Mart wearing a t-shirt that showed this Jesus fellow wearing shorts and a headband and bouncing a basketball. It is a start, anyway.

What is that saying – Nothing succeeds like excess? Well, if such is true, these yanks are the most successful people on the planet. I found an insulated drinking mug at (you guessed it) Wal-Mart that is 64 ounces. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Imperial system, 64 ounces is almost 2 litres. The mug is massive and has a handle that the Incredible Hulk could easily get his hand through. I couldn’t pass up the chance to own such a novelty (my mother says a girl she works with brings one of these to work and drinks out of it during her shift), so I bought two of them. One of these is a gag gift for you, John (assuming I can fit them into my suitcase).

After I found these mugs, mum took me to the International House of Pancakes and after I ordered a coffee, I was given not only a full cup of coffee, but also an insulated thermos of coffee. So, I was given the equivalent of a pot of coffee along with my full cup and I could sit there the better part of the afternoon and fill my cup, without bothering the waitress. This seemed excessive, until I was given the maple syrup – I couldn’t use that much in weeks. My mother buys ice cream bars (like Magnums) in boxes of 24 and at the moment she has somewhere around 50 in her freezer. I won’t even go into the almost 3 kilo steak that is available not far from here.

Some of the news channels have at the moment a countdown clock in the lower right corner, counting the hours until the time limit imposed by Bush on the president of Iraq passes. It seems that there are 26 hours 34 minutes and 23 seconds until the deadline – how pleasant.

While I am on such a positive note, I will say that I certainly haven’t missed the racial slurs one repeatedly hears here. If I never again hear such offensive remarks as “nigger”, I will consider myself lucky. I found myself contemplating positively the possibility that I would never return to this part of the world.

Last night, mum and I were coming back to my hometown (Marlow) from OKC and we drove into one of the worst hailstorms I have ever seen. My mother has a small car that is called a “Laser” in Australasia and the golf ball sized hail was slamming into it so hard, I thought the windscreen would shatter. The sound on the top of the car (only a few millimetres from my head) was incredible. We were also under a tornado watch and there was a large tornado spotted not far from where we were. Ah, to be back in mid-America! I have attached a photo that I took with my digital camera about five minutes before the storm hit. We stopped the car on the interstate so I could take this shot.

They are marketing bunkers on TV at the moment. There are the full-sized ones that can be cemented into one’s back yard and also closet-sized ones. They can be painted like the American flag and the have mounts for machine guns (or some such thing). They also come with filters to protect against various chemical and biological agents. I feel like I am on TV and I wish I could change the channel.

Well, that is enough for now.

Jerry

“God is on our side.” – George W. Bush (Maybe we should introduce this “God” bloke and that hippie Jesus.)

This photo was attached to “Letters to Civilisation (Two)”, when it was originally emailed.

[Note: This is the first of three emails that I sent back to my friends in New Zealand and Australia, while I was visiting my family in the USA in early 2003.]

—–Original Message—–
From: G.L. Jordan [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 8:32 AM

Subject: Letters to Civilisation (One)

Dear Friends,

As I sit down to type this email, the TV is on CNN and the propaganda in the Azores is being promoted to the masses. The talk here is not of the appropriateness of war but, rather, of when it will occur. The newspapers are entertaining people with maps of Iraq and how “we” will go in and bring liberty (read here “American-style ‘democracy’ and consumerism”) to the people of Iraq. There is no discussion of the terrible loss of life that will occur and when it is suggested that many civilians will suffer and die, the responses given show a lack of interest in the plight of anyone who isn’t American. For those who cannot understand the effects of propaganda on the people of Weimar Germany, just visit prosperous 21st Century America and you will see how such propaganda is utilised to mould the minds of a people unable to think outside of their very limited perspective and who are poorly trained to analyse the information they receive.

The culture shock I am experiencing at the moment is emotionally painful and mentally exhausting. Being away from this culture so long and then returning, I realise just how emotionally aggressive these people are, how judgmental and how small minded my compatriots generally are. It is easy for all of us to look at the stereotypes of other cultural groups and then laugh to ourselves when we meet people who seem to be the prototypical of those stereotypes. Few people, it would seem, are able to step outside of their own cultural system and view their own people – and hence themselves – through the eyes of an outsider. Having that perspective is not necessarily an enjoyable thing.

Before leaving NZ, I was apprehensive about being surrounded by 280 million yanks. When I arrived at LAX, it was all I had anticipated and more. While I must say that it was pleasant being called “sir” by strangers (something that I have only experienced a few times in Australasia), my satisfaction in that small pleasantry was short-lived.

Where to start in discussing those first few hours?

While waiting in the terminal for my flight from LA to OKC (Oklahoma City) via Phoenix, the following was heard over the intercom:

Ladies and Gentleman,

If today is your birthday, Southwest Airlines would like to wish you “Happy Birthday.” Thank you.

At first I had to assume this was a joke. As the moments wore on, however, and there was no follow-up announcement, I began to realise that this was sincere. My first reaction was to laugh, until I began to ponder that this was a glimpse of what was to come during my sojourn on this continent. Any doubts I had about the sincerity of this announcement disappeared when I heard it repeated at least twice more during my wait to board my flight. Putting this into an Australasian context, I began to imagine that the yanks were like the Wiggles on speed.

On the flight from Phoenix to OKC, the head steward put on a voice – how shall I say this? – like a drag queen and spoke in this manner through the entire flight. He was doing his comedy routine from the end of the safety spiel until the landing in OKC and I found myself repeatedly looking at my watch and trying to calculate the hours until I would be back on the Air NZ flight leaving LA for CHCH. While I haven’t believed in deity(s) for quite a few years, I found myself seriously pondering at least the existence of purgatory/hell.

When I first arrived in Australia, I believed that Australians (particularly those in service industries) were impolite. They never seemed willing to greet you, to exchange any pleasantries, to say “please”, “thank you”, “sir”, etc. When I walked into shops, I was approached by staff who would simply say, “Yes?” I found this quite abrupt but realised after encountering such repeatedly that it was the norm. Now, upon returning to the country that is termed by locals as “the land of the free and the home of the brave” (a sentiment that I do not share), I find people in public quite intrusive. Of course you all know me well and realise that I am not one to take things lying down, so rather than jumping into their mindset and conversing with them on their terms, I simply respond as any other Aussie would – I give them a sombre look and give them what they would consider a cold response (typical, however for Australasia) in my Aussie accent.

Speaking of my Aussie accent – while I know most of you would smirk at such and imagine that I still sound like a yank, I can assure you that the people here view me as a “foreigner”. I have repeatedly been asked what country I am from and have received even more quizzical looks from checkout staff. I went into Wal-Mart and asked for a “battery” for my digital camera and the girl gave me a very cold reception. No doubt, the English pronunciation of “battery” (the final vowel being silent) was not to her liking.

I called Air New Zealand yesterday to ask about my luggage allowances from the USA (which is more than double allowed most places – 64 Kilos rather than 20) and the girl on the phone had a lovely kiwi accent. I asked her where she was from and I found that I just wanted to stay on the phone to hear her accent. This southern twang is driving me insane.

Last night, Kalena and I were able to do voice chat online and it was so good to hear her voice. Only 19 days until I can leave here!

On a more positive side, the shopping here is excellent. I am reminded that the best and cheapest goods in the world can be purchased here in this consumption-crazed country. Some of the things I buy in NZ are a quarter of the price here.

Janice – thanks for showing such an interest in this region of the world. Yes, I am only a few hours from where JFK was shot, I am close to Fort Sill (one of the largest military installations in North America) and about 30 minutes from where Geronimo (the native American warrior and political activist) was held and tortured until his death. Such positive references give you a small glimpse into the people of this area.

I will end this email here, as I do not wish to test your patience too much at this point and I will save the discussion of religion in America for another time.

Think of me in the wilderness.

Jerry

Before the Industrial Revolution, the largest divide in the West was between those with land and those without (with the clergy aligning themselves to the landed gentry and monarchies). After the Industrial Revolution, the divide become – if we put credence in Karl Marx and others – between those who possessed the means of production and those who were just cogs in the machine of production.

At the present time, a new divide is being created. In the Information Age, the new divide is based on knowledge (information). Those who refuse or are unable to adapt to new technologies are slowly being left behind economically (and perhaps considering social networking online, socially too). An obvious example would be the future employment opportunities for a child who isn’t educated in emerging technologies, but what about more immediate examples?

I was recently approached by a colleague who wanted “help” converting some long videos to short ones, suitable for upload to his website and YouTube. At first, I thought that he was asking me to train him how to use the many Linux-based video editing programs that I am familiar with, but as we chatted further, I realised that he wanted me to help him with the programs that he already had on his own computer. So, he wanted me to meet with him, learn to use his own program, explain that program to him and then help him edit his videos. The first thing that came into my head was, “You lazy bastard!” As I thought further about this, however, I began to realise that people like this fellow are steadily being left behind in the Information Age. Perhaps it is because of lack of motivation, perhaps it is because of lack of cognitive abilities (which I doubt in his case) or perhaps it is because it is all too daunting for him. Regardless of the reason, if individuals like this fellow are not able to sit down and take the time to learn new technologies as they develop, the future job opportunities for such individuals will continue to diminish.

Futuristic novels have long warned us of a time when there will be manual laborers and others who rule by the use of their intellects. As we enter the Information Age, it seems more and more likely that those who do not embrace technology will find that their job options will become increasingly narrow – perhaps eventually leaving them with few options outside of employment involving more manual tasks.