Lies My Country Told Me

 

The War of 1812 as Americans Remember It

A Chinese student wants to talk of Nancy Pelosi. Apparently she is trying to start World War III.

I took the tack that China really shouldn’t care, since Pelosi was just visiting, not declaring Taiwan independent. Why assume hostility? For that matter, why care if Taiwan is independent? America has no problem with Canada being independent.  But I had a hard time getting him to move on.

A colleague laments how everyone brainwashes kids.

Including our own countries and our own schools. I grew up convinced that Canada had trounced the US in the War of 1812. News to the Americans I met in grad school. Canada was involved? They understood that they had trounced the British. 

In China, I was similarly taken aback to learn that North Korea won the Korean War.

So were they brainwashed, or was I? 

A bit of both. I learned from these experiences.

I remember a group of Chinese teachers studying with me in Canada at a time when there was concern over North Korea getting nukes—before they actually got nukes. Without thinking, I lamented the problem. And the response was sharp: “Why does America think only they should have nuclear weapons?”

I had to think long and hard about that one. I think they have a point. Perhaps if every country had nuclear weapons, war would be eliminated as a possibility altogether.

I was in Saudi Arabia when Osama Bin Laden was shot by the US Navy Seals. My officemates were enraged at this murder by the evil Americans. I managed, “Well, at least he died bravely, with his boots on. Not like Saddam.” 

That seemed to satisfy them. I was not the enemy.

An Arab student wanted me to agree that Hitler was really a good guy. At least he did something about the Jews…

My awkward counter was, whether you agreed with him or not, you had to admit that he was a failure, and left Germany in worse shape than he found it.

Again, that seemed to satisfy him. Although I felt guilty for not immediately defending the Jews. It gave me a lot of sympathy for Pope Pius XII.

One of the advantages of the expat experience is that it tends to expose the biases you have been brought up with.

I think the Koreans and the Filipinos are pretty good on this score. They’ve been lied to by their governments so often and incompetently, that they rarely believe anything from anyone. We Westerners may be easier marks.