I think I know how the US became the richest country in the world.
1. They bigged up their nation to the rest of the world, making everyone want to go there
2. They tell anyone who wants to come in that they have to get a visa
3. They charge £1.23 per minute to ring and book an appointment for the visa, and the conversation lasts roughly ten mins so £12.30
4. They make you pay $150 for an interview (about £100)
In 2010 alone, 160 million people were granted nonimmigrant entry in America (this is when they are allowed temporary residency but not citizenship - you can stay for more than a holiday, but less than forever). 160 million multiplied by £112.30 = £17,968,000,000.
Simples. How are they going bankrupt?!
I jest. I know that there are wages to pay at the embassy for staff etc, plus running expenses, etc etc. However, it is all a bit of a rip. Especially when they have not trained their staff on simple processes like 'How to smile' and 'How not to hate our customers'. I recently went to the Ghana High Commission to get a visa for my boss, and I couldn't believe how chilled it was. I mean, firstly, I was allowed to pick up a visa for someone else! At the US embassy, my passport was scrutinised to ensure I really was the same person as in the picture, I was x-rayed along with my belongings, and gave my fingerprints 14 times. The lady behind the desk didn't even smirk when she asked for my left hand and I had to hold up my forefinger and thumb in an 'L' shape to make sure which hand was left. They no trust nobody.
I know it's slightly silly to compare the Ghanaian embassy to the American one, Africa and America are two verrry different places with two verrrry different attitudes towards others. It just all seems a bit, well, paranoid. Honestly, I am a lovely person. You will be very lucky to have me America, I promise!
Friday 2 December 2011
Wednesday 23 November 2011
It's OK to Like America
When I was eight, my parents took me and my brothers to Walt Disney World Orlando, in Florida, as part of a four week trip to visit friends and family on the east coast of the US. I don't know whether it was the magic of Magic Kingdom, the sheer size of everything we saw whilst we were there (including the food portions, which even at the age of eight, were very important to me), or just the fact that going to the USA meant an extra two weeks off school over Christmas, but something about America found its way into my mind, and I've never been able to let it go.
As a child, and even well into my teens, I stated I was going to be a teacher - no doubt about it in fact. Yet here I am, accepting a role in marketing, my first step into a 'career', because it's in America. In Year 13, I set out to apply to university to study Psychology, but four years later, I've somehow graduated with a BA in American Studies instead... All very strange. What is it about this nation, infamous for being loud, crass, and greedy, that appeals to me so much? In fact, 'appeals' doesn't quite cut it: 'fascinates' is more like it.
Despite my degree being considered the study of a mixture of many American disciplines, including literature, politics and sociology, I always class myself as a history student. And yes, I've heard all the jokes: 'What, you studied all hundred years of America's past? What a challenge that must have been!' Excuse me while I smile sweetly at your ignorance and cross you off my Christmas card list ( slash, 'unfriend' you on Facebook, which I guess is the modern equivalent). Perhaps America's history is not as long-winded as many European countries', but I bet none of you can honestly answer a question about pre-20th century British history, except, 'How many wives did Henry VIII have?' and even then, that's not knowledge, that's barely even crap pub quiz trivia! America's history is really just a condensed version of European history; let's call it an abridgment. The original settlers were a combination of people from the largest, most powerful colonies in the world. They had the advantage of knowing the mistakes their countries had already made, not to mention the technology already developed, so could swiftly side-step the Dark Ages of trial-and-improvement, and start as a 'brand new' country, without having to go through all the hassle of starting from scratch like the rest of the world had to.
Anyway, enough teaching and preaching. I love America. Yes, loud crass and greedy it may be, not to mention backwards in many ways, and selfish, and a bully. But who isn't? Britain ruled one quarter of the world's population in the early 1920s, and I doubt the Africans and Indians under their rule felt any differently than the Afghans and Iranians feel about the ever-present Americans now. I'm not condoning the US occupation of pretty much anywhere they can get their hands on, but as we're in this glass house, let's not start chucking stones about. We may have surrendered our power over our colonies but only because they forced us to. I doubt we'd bat an eyelid if our empire still stood as strong now as it did in the 1920s, we'd probably feel a mild form of patriotism for being such a tiny country with such extended power. Shit, I said I'd stop teaching and preaching! Sorry.
The long and short of it is, don't judge a whole, massive nation by the negative things that you hear in the news, which only occur because of a very small number of their population. If we judged an entire country on their leader and government for example, then we'd still be hating the Germans for Hitler, the French for Napoleon, the Iraqis for Saddam, the Libyans for Gaddafi, the Russians for Stalin, not to mention ourselves for Thatcher... lol. America is a wicked place, there's much more to it than the gun-toting, cowboy boot-wearing, mini dog in handbag-carrying stereotypes we like to use. I can't wait to get there :)
As a child, and even well into my teens, I stated I was going to be a teacher - no doubt about it in fact. Yet here I am, accepting a role in marketing, my first step into a 'career', because it's in America. In Year 13, I set out to apply to university to study Psychology, but four years later, I've somehow graduated with a BA in American Studies instead... All very strange. What is it about this nation, infamous for being loud, crass, and greedy, that appeals to me so much? In fact, 'appeals' doesn't quite cut it: 'fascinates' is more like it.
Despite my degree being considered the study of a mixture of many American disciplines, including literature, politics and sociology, I always class myself as a history student. And yes, I've heard all the jokes: 'What, you studied all hundred years of America's past? What a challenge that must have been!' Excuse me while I smile sweetly at your ignorance and cross you off my Christmas card list ( slash, 'unfriend' you on Facebook, which I guess is the modern equivalent). Perhaps America's history is not as long-winded as many European countries', but I bet none of you can honestly answer a question about pre-20th century British history, except, 'How many wives did Henry VIII have?' and even then, that's not knowledge, that's barely even crap pub quiz trivia! America's history is really just a condensed version of European history; let's call it an abridgment. The original settlers were a combination of people from the largest, most powerful colonies in the world. They had the advantage of knowing the mistakes their countries had already made, not to mention the technology already developed, so could swiftly side-step the Dark Ages of trial-and-improvement, and start as a 'brand new' country, without having to go through all the hassle of starting from scratch like the rest of the world had to.
Anyway, enough teaching and preaching. I love America. Yes, loud crass and greedy it may be, not to mention backwards in many ways, and selfish, and a bully. But who isn't? Britain ruled one quarter of the world's population in the early 1920s, and I doubt the Africans and Indians under their rule felt any differently than the Afghans and Iranians feel about the ever-present Americans now. I'm not condoning the US occupation of pretty much anywhere they can get their hands on, but as we're in this glass house, let's not start chucking stones about. We may have surrendered our power over our colonies but only because they forced us to. I doubt we'd bat an eyelid if our empire still stood as strong now as it did in the 1920s, we'd probably feel a mild form of patriotism for being such a tiny country with such extended power. Shit, I said I'd stop teaching and preaching! Sorry.
The long and short of it is, don't judge a whole, massive nation by the negative things that you hear in the news, which only occur because of a very small number of their population. If we judged an entire country on their leader and government for example, then we'd still be hating the Germans for Hitler, the French for Napoleon, the Iraqis for Saddam, the Libyans for Gaddafi, the Russians for Stalin, not to mention ourselves for Thatcher... lol. America is a wicked place, there's much more to it than the gun-toting, cowboy boot-wearing, mini dog in handbag-carrying stereotypes we like to use. I can't wait to get there :)
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