I never thought 14-hour plane rides would start to feel almost normal. 
But there are a lot of things I never thought would happen.

I am back in Los Angeles.

Yesterday, to help my own mental transition, I went to an Aussie Rules
footy exhibition held at UCLA.  This is an actual conversation
(probably not quite verbatim; I didn’t have a notebook) I overheard
between two of my countrymen:

Ah.  So it’s agreed, then: if you haven’t personally heard "Advance Australia Fair," logically, it does not exist.

Don’t get me wrong; ignorance about the rest of the world (much less
the basics of logic) isn’t an American thing.  I met one woman in
Queensland who proudly told me she has no interest in the rest of
Australia, much less any other country.  It simply wasn’t important to
her, and she couldn’t see why it would be.  If I spoke the local
languages better, I could probably find people like that in all 30-odd
countries I’ve visited so far, if I looked.

But America is in the unique position of greater military and economic
influence over (even when not trying actively to control) the rest of
the world.  And so you’d think we’d realize we have a much greater
obligation to try to understand the planet and base our opinions on
actual facts, examined closely.

Instead, we can’t seem to bother to understand our own constitution.  I’m hearing even people I like,
mind you, people I care about and respect, repeating things that are
disreputable dangerous rubbish, convinced that their words are the
height of patriotism.  Yes, of course, the president has the power to interpret law.  Yes, of course, the president has the power to spy on anyone, anytime.  Yes, of course, the president has the right to kidnap and torture and imprison people without trial.

I am back in Los Angeles.  But I — and all of us — are a long, long way from home.

UPDATE: Read this MLK day speech by Al Gore.  I never liked the guy much when he was in office, but ever since his political future ended, he has gone Bulworth on us and said a lot of stuff that needed to be said.

I never thought 14-hour plane rides would start to feel almost normal. 
But there are a lot of things I never thought would happen.

I am back in Los Angeles.

Yesterday, to help my own mental transition, I went to an Aussie Rules
footy exhibition held at UCLA.  This is an actual conversation
(probably not quite verbatim; I didn’t have a notebook) I overheard
between two of my countrymen:

Ah.  So it’s agreed, then: if you haven’t personally heard "Advance Australia Fair," logically, it does not exist.

Don’t get me wrong; ignorance about the rest of the world (much less
the basics of logic) isn’t an American thing.  I met one woman in
Queensland who proudly told me she has no interest in the rest of
Australia, much less any other country.  It simply wasn’t important to
her, and she couldn’t see why it would be.  If I spoke the local
languages better, I could probably find people like that in all 30-odd
countries I’ve visited so far, if I looked.

But America is in the unique position of greater military and economic
influence over (even when not trying actively to control) the rest of
the world.  And so you’d think we’d realize we have a much greater
obligation to try to understand the planet and base our opinions on
actual facts, examined closely.

Instead, we can’t seem to bother to understand our own constitution.  I’m hearing even people I like,
mind you, people I care about and respect, repeating things that are
disreputable dangerous rubbish, convinced that their words are the
height of patriotism.  Yes, of course, the president has the power to interpret law.  Yes, of course, the president has the power to spy on anyone, anytime.  Yes, of course, the president has the right to kidnap and torture and imprison people without trial.

I am back in Los Angeles.  But I — and all of us — are a long, long way from home.

UPDATE: Read this MLK day speech by Al Gore.  I never liked the guy much when he was in office, but ever since his political future ended, he has gone Bulworth on us and said a lot of stuff that needed to be said.