WHY AMERICANS DON’T TRAVEL OVERSEAS
We’ve all heard the alarming statistic- only 15% of Americans own a passport. (Update: That number is about 21% now) That number is now rising but only because Americans are required to show a passport when going to Mexico and Canada. Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin only got her passport last year and has only been to military bases in Iraq and Germany. In fact, she has implied that traveling is for the rich: “I’m not one of those who maybe come from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents get ‘em a passport and give ‘em a back pack and say go off and travel the world. Noooo. I worked all my life… I was not, uh, a part of, I guess, that culture.”
So why is it that America, a country with 300 million people and the world’s superpower, turns a blind eye to the rest of the planet and political figures tout their lack of overseas travel as a plus? I believe there are a few reasons:
First, there is size. Forget about post-9/11 politics for a moment. Most family vacations in America are to other parts of America. Why? Because the U.S.A. takes up a whole continent and we have all the world’s environments in our states. Need beaches? Head to Florida. The tropics? Hawaii. Desert? Arizona. The cold Tundra? Alaska. Temperate forests? Washington. This attitude is best summed up by a response I got from a friend in Iowa: “Why would you want to go to Thailand? It’s far and scary. If you want beaches, just go to Florida.” Americans simply don’t see the need to go anywhere else when they can do it all in their country, especially when they are afraid of the world.
Which brings me to my second point- fear. Americans are just scared of the world. I mean really scared. Maybe even petrified. In this post-9/11 world, Americans have been taught the world is a big scary place. There are terrorists outside every hotel waiting to kidnap you. People don’t like you because you are American. The world is violent. It’s poor. It’s dirty. It’s
So why is it that America, a country with 300 million people and the world’s superpower, turns a blind eye to the rest of the planet and political figures tout their lack of overseas travel as a plus? I believe there are a few reasons:
First, there is size. Forget about post-9/11 politics for a moment. Most family vacations in America are to other parts of America. Why? Because the U.S.A. takes up a whole continent and we have all the world’s environments in our states. Need beaches? Head to Florida. The tropics? Hawaii. Desert? Arizona. The cold Tundra? Alaska. Temperate forests? Washington. This attitude is best summed up by a response I got from a friend in Iowa: “Why would you want to go to Thailand? It’s far and scary. If you want beaches, just go to Florida.” Americans simply don’t see the need to go anywhere else when they can do it all in their country, especially when they are afraid of the world.
Which brings me to my second point- fear. Americans are just scared of the world. I mean really scared. Maybe even petrified. In this post-9/11 world, Americans have been taught the world is a big scary place. There are terrorists outside every hotel waiting to kidnap you. People don’t like you because you are American. The world is violent. It’s poor. It’s dirty. It’s