DiploStrat said:
Please forgive my slightly grouchy post.
IMO, no apologies needed, on either count.
I think there are a few factors at work in both areas.
1.
Our Trip is Very Special. The entire "today we walked on the beach and bought some fruit at a local market, which was so exotic, the people look different from me and you, they're, well, you know, different, and like, John just hates to brush his teeth with anything but his favorite toothpaste, so we spent another six hours dealing with that very rude man at the customs office about our case of Colgate, you'd think that those people would realize that poeple like us need our packages, so after that John wasn't feeling well so we took a cab back, but first we stopped at the ATM, yes, that's right they have ** ATMs ** here, can you believe it? well, we couldn't either..." travel blog style and content really does send me to places I can't and won't describe on a family forum.
I think perhaps one of the reasons people think their trips around Latin America or across Africa are so special and ground breaking is that so few Americans go outside the borders of the US. Those that do generally are limited to package tours or the gated and fenced grounds of resorts. When people do get out beyond those limits, they are generally agog for the first trip or two. It's easy to get carried away a bit when it's your first taste of monkey brains for dinner or trip to the rain forest or glimpse of a life that doesn't revolve around cable television and celebrity worship.
Personally, I'm convinced we will never go anywhere or do anything that other people haven't been or done before a long, long time ago. That takes a lot of pressure off of us to go or do anything really noteworthy and lets us just enjoy the local environment.
2.
It's All About the Truck. Modern developed societies are acquisition based and almost entirely materialistic. The US economy is 70% consumer spending. Think about that number. The average American is exposed to more than 3,000 marketing impressions every 24 hours. Think about that number.
It is essentially impossible to grow up in and live in the US and not have whatever brain processing cycles that are not dedicated to food, shelter and reproduction (that's a large number for males) consumed by consumerism. By the time Americans are young adults we can make sub-second feature and benefit vs. price decisions standing in a retail aisle while simultaneously conducting a cell phone conversation and talking with the store clerk.
Bottom line: the average American is a highly evolved, very specialized, finely honed acquisition machine. That leads to a lot of focus on things to acquire, and since this is primarily an American audience expedition vehicle forum, there is a lot of focus here on things to acquire to put on an expedition vehicle.
But, it's not just Americans. I put up a post about a decision criteria model I built for expedition vehicles over on HU and the Europeans over there practically came unglued. Generally, anything that doesn't relate to what thing to buy that will, through the magic of marketing, make you a smarter, sexier, more desirable, more successful person, and well, also might, potentially, conceivably add some functionality or performance to the truck, is as popular as head lice. It's a little less severe here at ExPo, but still a factor.
As you discovered in 1974 and still know today, people are out here running around the planet on and in just about anything that will move.
And when you meet them and sit down to talk, you almost never, ever talk about the vehicles. Or what is on them.
You talk about your experiences.
And, well, OK, maybe a little bit about the rude guy at the customs office.
Doug
