It’s SOOOO Big!
The New York Times‘ Opionator blog has an hilarious post up about the impressions that East Coast Americans (specifically New Yorkers) have about their fellow citizens and states in the western United States. Thought I’d add a “beyond the reef” perspective to it.
Here We Are!
Here in Hawaii, we’re used to many mainland Americans (we call them “mainlanders” when we’re being polite) not even realizing that Hawaii is part of the United States. We just had our 50th anniversary as a state, so perhaps it will sink in soon. I’ve gotten questions from mainlanders about what language we speak and if U.S. dollars can be spent here (oh, yes, please!). Even those that do realize we are fellow Americans, say that they are going back to “the States” when they leave us. A pet peeve is all those maps of the United States on network television that don’t show Hawaii. To be fair, they don’t show Alaska either. Once, when I ran the U.S. Department of Commerce office in Honolulu, I was referred to as the American consul in Hawaii (perhaps I should have tried charging mainlanders for visas). I’ll never forget the time I got an urgent phone call from Washington, DC asking that I fly in “on the red-eye” for a meeting the following morning. My response: “Do you really want me to fly a quarter of the way around the world for a one-hour meeting?” The caller’s reply: “Oh, is it that far?” Apparently he thought Hawaii was just off the coast of California.
If Americans have perceptual problems about their own country, imagine what faces foreigners coming to the United States. The biggest surprise (assuming they can get the visa) is how massive the country really is. I have disabused Asian businesspeople of the notion that they could set up a breakfast meeting in Los Angeles, meet someone over lunch in Miami, and fly back to Chicago for dinner. And I’ve had the same conversations with Europeans, especially if they venture beyond the East Coast.
Once in a while, lack of geographic knowledge works to your advantage. It was nearly a year into the first Arab oil embargo before OPEC glommed onto the fact that Hawaii was part of the United States (see, it’s not just Americans). We happily accepted all oil shipments and merrily passed some of them on to California (they still owe us for that one).
I’m not saying that Americans are any better about geography (oh, Lord, no!). Few have any notion of how large Russia or China might be, or how compact Western Europe is, or how far away Australia really is. And most Americans think of Africa as all one place. We’ve all got some learning to do.
Note for those of you who read the Opionator piece: Honolulu had Costco long before New York.
