Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Emperor Norton & American cultural reach

About American cultural reach, not about a royal anti-virus for computers.

We had intended a quick and dirty post about the cultural reach of the United States. Finding an expose on Emperor Norton I in the mainstream German media made us have a go at the post.

The pick was arbitrary, we could just as well have chosen the debate about PETA's animal shelters, which also made it into the German press.

Hollywood, music, guns, celebrities, causes good and causes lost, people around the world are familiar with these. But seeing small town German carnival floats celebrate the T-Birds from Grease, that's another level.

As an American on foreign travel you get used to American culture all around you until you hit really out of the way places. While the facts are easy to explain, the emotional part is much harder to grasp.

The French, of course, only have to land in Montreal, Canada, to feel it. The Spanish and the Portuguese have almost all of Central and South America to indulge in, and the Chinese don't have to go further than Singapore or San Francisco.

Germans, well, they may be able to catch a glimpse of this when they they are chugging along at 70 mph in the middle of Iowa and see a big "Willkommen" sign by the side of the road.

Or visitors from rural areas of southern Germany may perk up in Amish country
when they understand the admittedly old fashioned locals chatting next to a pair of buggies.


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