Yeah, I know what you mean. I took military history last semester and it was kinda ridiculous. The professor went really in-depth on how everything interacted to cause or was caued by the military developments, armies, and wars.
But yeah, my high school art history was basically "this is the Laocoon Group. It's a guy and his sons getting eaten by a sea monster because they somehow ****ed off the gods." There was some stuff on why the different art styles came about-- especially the later, European and American styles-- but it still seemed more focused on the art and who made it than anything else.
Yeah, I took an art history class my senior year of high school and I learned that I have the soul of a philistine. Pretty much everything past the 18th, 19th century was kinda... "um, what?" except for a few photographers. I just didn't get into the pop art and the abstract stuff. And even lots of the old stff was just weird.
And yeah, I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Especially considering my artistic abilities.
Sorry, that was another of the things I had no idea about. No problem. I'm on here a lot (relatively speaking) mostly because I'm a dumbass. I suck at art, but I've got math and physics I'm taking for engineering, and I'm trying an English major. I wholly understand the ridiculous amounts of work college dumps on you.
And yeah, I understand about the national identity thing, insofar as any arrogant and self-centered American can. :-)
And yes, we're mind-blowingly ignorant of the politics, foreign relations, and all of both. Even me. F'rinstance, I know where you are, know your capital, know your flag, I have a vague idea of your history... but I couldn't tell a damn thing about, say, your present relations with Russia, whatever they may be. Or, for that matter, the real difference between you and the Latvians, or even the Russians. It's the same effect as the US and Canada kinda. You're way off there in the distance, speak related or the same languages, and that's about it.
Er... well, iunno about that. I'm a bit of a history and geography nerd, so I, personally, know there's a bunch of formerly Soviet, now independent, nations in Eastern Europe and Western Asia-- could even name a lot of them. But... yeah, a lot of it's really off the radar here. With some people you'd get the same response to, say, Suriname that you would Estonia, that being "huh? where's that?"
Which is even worse because Suriname is in South America.
Ah... well, as I discovered on this very site in my interactions with a certain former member who shall remain nameless, sometimes Canadians have slight issues with being lumped together with us. Has something to do with the fact that they always get labeled as the US's little brother or whatever, and so they kinda have a reflex counter-response that leads them to cling to whatever differences there are and get ****ed when they're lumped in.
On the other hand, Americans are famous for being arrogant and self-centered, which is another reason the Canadians wouldn't want to be lumped with us, and another reason we wouldn't mind getting lumped with them. Because we're kinda the ones overshadowing them, not the other way around.
Well... Iunno. I have no real desire to go to Europe. Some of my classmates, on the other hand, REALLY want to go there (or Asia, or Africa, or wherever). But yeah, I'd say that it's just because it's far away.
And yeah, I'd say that the first but would be a little off. For one thing, there's Mexico. For another, there's Canada (don't try to say Canada is just like America. Canadians get riled at that, for some reason). But... yeah. People in the US (probably) aren't as exposed to other cultures. I mean, sure, there's communities of different cultures within the US, but you're not all that likely to go visit them. Or maybe you are, I don't know.
EEEh. Kinda. You could argue it either way. The states once considered themselves sovereign entities, but there's a lot less of that in the last hundred years or so. The United States is, not the United States are. But then there ARE noticeable linguistic and cultural differences, so who knows.
But yeah, I'd say we definitely qualify as "multicultural." Within a thirty minute drive of my house, there are several places I could drive where everyone was speaking Spanish, one where they'd be speaking Yiddish or Hebrew, and another where they'd be speaking the Trinidad and Tobago creole. But it really depends on the place. And that doesn't eve get into the English-speaking differences. Mostly because it can be a touchy subject.
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