Americans get cultures in a can. They get anime and gothic lolita dresses, and kilts and celtic knots and "sexy accents", and so many of them think that's all there is to it. I'm not Scottish, but I lived there long enough to know that it's fucking annoying when people visit your country because they've fetishized it and think your culture (or what they perceive to be your culture) is just so "cool" and "oh I'm Scottish too och aye ye wee laddie".
Hah, you quite correct on that. I remember a Christian friend (and a die-hard lover of multi-culture) who often lamented on American commercialization on "cultural entities" in ways that warps the perception of what a culture is to begin with. He also once ranted about how some Americans (in this case, Perry and Brand) want to have a Hindu Wedding because it's apparently "cool", then give the culture a shoe once the novelty wears off. "But are they even aware of what Hinduism stands for?" He cried. "Do they even know the philosophical essence behind the sacred fire? More importantly, do they even care?"
Nope; they don't. Ironically, this also reminds me of a close friend's rants regarding the New Age movement.
Usually the kind of backlash that Americans receive from these culturally rich countries is out of fear that... you know, the "compress it in a can" thing, hence making it lose value. A culture isn't toy; it's the collective minds throughout time in distant lands.
And
because of this retraction people like Katie, who are genuinely interested, often get into bad terms to begin with. People have the tendency to see a few rotten apples and judge the whole basket, but only few have the capability to weed out the best cleverly. In other words, I encourage Katie to follow her heart here, because there's a lot of culture she can bask in.
I still have a lot more to read apparently (ah, shit, dyslexia...) Pardon my late responses.
*Yeah, I don't really mind when people have the desire to rant on me; in fact, I welcome it, and for various mutual understandings.
