September 30, 2008--Don't Know Nothing 'Bout Geography
I do not have a problem with Sarah Palin’s not having had a passport until last year and using it only once to visit Alaskan National Guardsmen in the Middle East.
Lots of folks are well traveled and in spite of that know very little about the world. They race around and thus do not have the chance to learn anything much about the countries they’ve visited or even if they settle in for a while most are there to absorb the art and culture. Unless they read the local press, talk widely with people who live there, or seek the opportunity to meet with political figures and journalists, they come away without much subtle understanding of the history of the region or the issues they face.
I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia or Indonesia but feel I have a pretty good grasp of their history and what is currently going on there. Nothing of course trumps an in-depth visit, but reading books, newspapers, and magazines is a pretty good way to keep up with things. If you have anything resembling a real interest it is also not difficult to find knowledgeable people to talk with. Even up in Alaska.
And that’s where I find particular fault with Sarah Palin—there is no evidence from her few interviews that she has been in any significant way interested in the world beyond her state’s borders. Even the three countries Alaska borders. Yes, three, because not only does she appear to know virtually nothing about Russia and Canada, except apparently what she can see, but she also seems not to know very much about the country of America—the rest of America, the Lower Forty-Eight.
This lack of basic knowledge, this inability thus to see and discuss things in anything resembling context, is what is getting her into trouble in her few interviews.
Tina Fay got it right—not only does she imitate Palin by essentially quoting her directly, but also by disjointly babbling on, stringing her memorized talking points together into series of non sequesters, she exposes this inability to see or set anything in context.
Some are claiming that Sarah Palin is not very smart and that is her problem. This may be true but I am reluctant to make that demeaning claim—she may actually be smarter than she seems. My concern is that she appears to lack curiosity. She looks for things to believe in, be they ideological or religious, and for her that seems to be enough.
Metaphorically, this was summed up for me when last week, while settling in in New York City for a few days, beyond the quick handshakes at the UN and the obligatory photo-op at Ground Zero, she mentioned that her husband and children had visited that “goofy evolution museum”—this is an actual quote and was not scripted by Tina Fay—the Museum of Natural History.
You don’t have to believe in Creationism, as she does, not to think about this as a great place for any curious person to visit. If you want Goofy, there’s always Disneyland.
Lots of folks are well traveled and in spite of that know very little about the world. They race around and thus do not have the chance to learn anything much about the countries they’ve visited or even if they settle in for a while most are there to absorb the art and culture. Unless they read the local press, talk widely with people who live there, or seek the opportunity to meet with political figures and journalists, they come away without much subtle understanding of the history of the region or the issues they face.
I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia or Indonesia but feel I have a pretty good grasp of their history and what is currently going on there. Nothing of course trumps an in-depth visit, but reading books, newspapers, and magazines is a pretty good way to keep up with things. If you have anything resembling a real interest it is also not difficult to find knowledgeable people to talk with. Even up in Alaska.
And that’s where I find particular fault with Sarah Palin—there is no evidence from her few interviews that she has been in any significant way interested in the world beyond her state’s borders. Even the three countries Alaska borders. Yes, three, because not only does she appear to know virtually nothing about Russia and Canada, except apparently what she can see, but she also seems not to know very much about the country of America—the rest of America, the Lower Forty-Eight.
This lack of basic knowledge, this inability thus to see and discuss things in anything resembling context, is what is getting her into trouble in her few interviews.
Tina Fay got it right—not only does she imitate Palin by essentially quoting her directly, but also by disjointly babbling on, stringing her memorized talking points together into series of non sequesters, she exposes this inability to see or set anything in context.
Some are claiming that Sarah Palin is not very smart and that is her problem. This may be true but I am reluctant to make that demeaning claim—she may actually be smarter than she seems. My concern is that she appears to lack curiosity. She looks for things to believe in, be they ideological or religious, and for her that seems to be enough.
Metaphorically, this was summed up for me when last week, while settling in in New York City for a few days, beyond the quick handshakes at the UN and the obligatory photo-op at Ground Zero, she mentioned that her husband and children had visited that “goofy evolution museum”—this is an actual quote and was not scripted by Tina Fay—the Museum of Natural History.
You don’t have to believe in Creationism, as she does, not to think about this as a great place for any curious person to visit. If you want Goofy, there’s always Disneyland.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
6:41 AM
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