by Eric Carlson
Daily lobo columnist
It is no surprise that Nicolas Copernicus was not popular. Nobody likes to be told they aren't the center of the universe.
I was raised in the United States and just returned from several months in China. I've had to contend with the realization that America isn't the center of the world. While scholars have long since embraced the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun, most individuals and some societies seem more comfortable with the older Ptolemaic system which puts us at the center of the solar system.
Growing up in New Mexico allowed me to develop a slightly more worldly perspective. Like it or not, it is hard to believe the world revolves around the Land of Enchantment, though I can't say the same for our neighbor to the east - and I don't mean Oklahoma.
Once you reach that narcissistic mindset, it becomes difficult to gain any other perspective or see our world as a system that puts anything other than us at the center of everything. Americans are, and always have been, particularly isolated geographically and culturally. The biggest influences on our collective identity reinforce our self-important vision and make it even more difficult to see the world through an unfiltered lens. In America, for example, both our media and education systems paint a picture that is uncompromisingly red, white and blue.
Last year's Olympics stand out in my mind as an example of American nationalism and isolationism. NBC rarely showed performances from other nation's athletes. I must have seen dozens of gold medal ceremonies and listened to the "Star Spangled Banner" at least six times a day. I certainly support America's athletes and I love to see them succeed, but it would have been nice to see some of the other great performances at the games.
The news coverage in our country is also extremely domestically focused. It is difficult to gain access to international news, either in print or on television, even when it is actively searched out.
I believe we have a terrific education system in the United States, but students are not often required to learn the geography and history of other important places in the world. Experience has taught me that educated people from other societies have a much broader exposure to the world's history and culture than most students in America. That needs to change.
It makes sense that we are more interested in the things that happen closer to our homes. This isolation does, however, make it increasingly difficult to interact with the world, as I learned when I studied for a semester in China and was exposed to a completely different culture that is every bit as centrist as America's.
China, much like the United States, is geographically large and isolated. China stills calls itself "The Middle Kingdom," in reference to the ancient belief that the country sits somewhere between heaven and earth.
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My own centrist views as an American clashed severely with the Chinese paradigm. I read the China Daily, China's official communist newspaper, and was stricken by the pervasive anti-American sentiment. Days after American publications ran stories criticizing China's human rights violations, articles appeared in Chinese papers listing the United States' human rights violations.
Chinese television stations are wholly owned and operated by the communist government, and there is no need for privately funded commercials to support broadcasting. Instead, the government runs self-aggrandizing ads and community information spots during normal commercial breaks.
Living in China helped me realize that both of our nations' access to information is incredibly limited. We are only taught certain things. The media, our neighbors, our schools and our politicians expose us to a small number of realities and thoughts.
China is the center of the universe if you are Chinese, and the United States is the center of the universe if you are American. Clearly both viewpoints cannot accurately reflect reality and it took me several confusing months to realize neither narrow view is adequate by itself.
As our world becomes smaller and international interactions increase, we will no longer be able to relegate our neighbors to the periphery of our world view. We must gain a broader prospective, and that educational process must begin in our homes and schools.
America wants to lead the world into the 21st century. The first step toward leadership is to learn about the world we wish to lead.
