Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Hello, Hola, Guten Tag, Bonjour, こんにちは !
Welcome everyone,
this is a podcast for those wanting to learn about U.S. culture through Standard American English, also known as General American. We talk about various different topics related to the U.S. and the U.S.'s relations with other countries.
My co-host and I would like to think of this as more of a journey because you never know where it’ll take us. Plus, since the journey’s more important than the end or the start, we hope that you’ll be willing to join us!
Let’s see where it takes us!
Hello and welcome.
My name is Christopher Chandler.
And my name is Chris Schauer.
And we are Generally American.
In our podcast, we discuss events,
culture, whatever else we want from a
Generally American perspective.
From our differing viewpoints, our goal is
that we can offer others and ourselves
nuanced opinions on fascinating topics
related to the US.
We invite you to be part of the discussion
and we hope that you'll stick around to
see where the conversation takes us.
So let's dive in.
And...
Yes, we are hello hello, that's good to be
back back again Yeah, she's back you he
brought out a new song I think a couple
weeks ago Houdini whatever You know he was
doing all that.
I don't know that's some That's
embarrassing.
I was I was thinking of the diss track
things going on and that
The last time he got involved in like a
diss track war was several years ago with
Michelle and Kelly.
Yeah, who's...
what was it?
Kendrick Lamar and Drake?
Doing the whole diss track and I think one
dropped a couple days ago.
Yeah, I'm not really into the whole like
diss track thing.
I mean, Eminem has done a lot of like diss
music, but that's...
I don't want to say it's a long time ago,
but it's been a minute.
Yeah.
I had some friends force me to listen to
some of the stuff that's coming out now.
like BL Drizzy, which is like an old 70s
song.
And really, I think it was Kendrick Lamar
took that sampled it and then used it for
one of his diss tracks.
It's a cool song.
Cool song.
I didn't know that I am definitely not a
hip hop person, only in passing.
I like a couple.
I like the hip hop music that was really
popular in like the 2000s, but I haven't
really been up to date on anything.
Yeah, same.
It was just a nice throwback with the
whole Houdini song.
Although I didn't listen to the whole
thing.
Anyway, before we get into all that, you
know, the weather here has been really
nice.
It's supposed to get up into, I think like
the 80s next week.
So.
I have to make sure that my daughter is
properly dressed so she doesn't like burn
up in like her sweaters and whatnot.
So it's really, yeah, it's really hard
because like babies are a lot more
sensitive than just, you know, regular
people.
So you really have to pay attention to
what you put on them.
and, and they sweat, they sweat pretty bad
if you put too much on them.
So yeah, but besides that, the weather has
been okay to make sure of like sunshine
and rain.
What about in your neck of the woods?
Well, it's been a weird like week and a
half because it was like less than a week
ago.
My goal was so my goal was to get through
June without turning on the air
conditioning and like knowing when to open
and close windows.
Not been a problem.
I didn't get through June without turning
the heater on because there was a day this
last week where I woke up in the morning
and it was like 37 degrees outside and it
only got up to like a high of 50 that day.
and I had to turn the heater on because it
was getting really cold inside.
And now today it's a high of 98.
my God.
So the weather out here is.
being a little bipolar, but I think it is
summer for real.
And I think Montana weather believes it's
summer for real now because I'm seeing a
handful of nineties on the forecast now.
So I think we're done with turning the
heater on in June.
Yeah.
I mean, the weather's really crazy.
I was reading the news about, forgive me.
I don't know the exact terminology, but
when people make like their trip to like
Saudi Arabia, to like Mecca and whatnot, I
don't know if you read that.
I think over a thousand people died.
my god.
Because of yeah because of heat waves so
it got up into like 130 degrees.
I can't I can't even imagine like how hot
that is.
I mean I'm sensitive when it's like 70 but
I couldn't imagine it being that hot so
the weather is...
I've worked in that kind of heat and it's
like I had to have like ice water soaked
Towels like draped over my shoulders to
like not pass out Yeah, I mean that's it's
the weather's definitely been crazy.
But yeah, so that's the that's the the bi
-weekly weather report so this is our
second to last episode I guess before I
break because I'll be in the US for a
couple months and so Yeah, yeah Yeah, but
you don't have to get on a plane
But before so I'm going with my wife and
my daughter and before My wife can go she
we have to fill out a form for her and
it's funny because they change the form
every couple of years They've gotten like
rid of a couple of questions.
So it doesn't actually apply anymore But I
remember the first time I filled out the
form for her.
It was What was I can't remember the exact
wording but it was something like
Are you or have you ever been a member of
the party that was in power in Germany
between 1933 and 1945?
Was Because they can't just say it yeah,
it was like are you a Nazi is basically
what they're asking so Obviously, my wife
isn't from the 30s But it was it was still
kind of funny and just like a couple other
questions like they asked
Like, do you have any diseases or are you
a terrorist?
Have you ever tried to, I don't know, like
overthrow like the American government and
stuff like that?
So it was just, I don't know, it was kind
of funny.
But now the questions are like, are you
bringing in like any food or have you ever
been denied entry into the country?
But the questions before were actually
pretty wild.
And the worst thing is that people don't
think it's like anything serious.
Like it's just like, it's a really easy
form.
You can fill it out in 10 minutes and it
costs like $20.
And people like, like, you know, it's just
a stupid form.
Who cares?
And if you, if you don't pay attention to
the form and you're just like playing
around and you check the wrong boxes,
they'll blacklist you from traveling to
the U S like they won't let you in.
so the form isn't very intimidating.
but it's a very serious form.
So I'm always very nervous when I'm
filling it out.
And then we get the answer in like two
hours saying, congratulations, you're
allowed to travel to the U .S.
But it's not a visa, by the way.
It's not a visa.
It just lets you get onto American soil.
But it doesn't mean that you can stay
there.
And if so, if TSA, you know, the border
patrol, whatever they're called, if they
don't like you, they'll force you back
into the plane.
And they're not very friendly.
My wife doesn't really like them that much
because they're always kind of grumpy.
But I can understand why.
But you have something that you wanted to
share that we started last week but didn't
finish.
my gosh.
I can't.
It's been two weeks.
I can't.
I can't exactly remember.
well, it's, you know, jury.
So like your duty like.
yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I know we were going to keep everyone
updated on that.
So it is definitely going to be a post
return from break thing.
So I looked at the sheet.
My window is September 1st, 2024 to August
31st, 2025.
So full year of being in the pool.
So at some point in that span, I will.
Probably get some into jury duty.
Although I remember talking about this
last week the pool For people in my county
seems massive this year because they've
had so many people Just refuse to do it
even though you legally can't do it You I
mean, it's not like you can physically
force somebody into a juror chair So, you
can't I thought you actually I thought you
could I mean, I think there's pretty harsh
penalties if you just refuse to do it But
it's not like you know, they're gonna
arrest you and lead you on up to the jury
stand in handcuffs.
I'm not going to lie.
I seriously thought that they would do
that because you know, jury duty is pretty
serious.
I've never been called for jury duty.
I hope I hope my streak continues.
But if it happens, we'll we'll keep
everyone up to date.
It'll be a it'll be a fun little civics
lesson.
Yeah, I'm always worried about being like
selected for jury duty.
So like I.
I live in the US and technically I live in
both countries.
And so I'm always worried about like my
family receiving a letter, my name saying
I have to go to jury duty.
It's never happened, but you know, I
always think like, what if, I'm sure it's
happened to someone living abroad, but
anywho, onto the topic of today, which is
basically like the quintessence of this
podcast, which is
Soft power.
Soft power.
And calling it that is not weird.
It's not untrue that this is basically
what this whole podcast about.
Well, I mean, but it's also a little
cynical, but not untrue.
Yeah, I mean, yeah.
I mean, it's not like we're doing all this
to influence people, but indirectly, I
mean, that's basically what it is.
And I guess maybe you can define what soft
power is.
Yeah.
So soft power, at least.
Maybe Chris can correct me if he disagrees
with any of these points.
When I was in high school, we talked about
soft power a lot, but it has been 12
years.
So if I miss anything, that's why Chris is
here.
My understanding of soft power is it is at
least from the US perspective, it's how we
have the ability to influence things in
other parts of the world without needing
to be explicit about it.
Like, we have a strong standing military,
but we don't need to directly threaten
someone with it.
They just know we have it.
So they're going to act a certain way when
we say things.
It's not just limited to that.
We have economic influence.
We have cultural influence.
All of these contribute to soft power.
It's just kind of a way of exerting our
influence on the world, which is why I
said this whole thing is very cynical.
Like it's, it's peaceful in nature, but
it's also, I don't know, describing it
gives me a little bit of an ick.
Yeah.
I mean, that's a good way to actually
describe it, I think, is basically having
cultural influence over other countries.
So I mean, describing, I guess it's a very
interesting, a very, very, I guess
introspection, if you will.
of like looking at what we're doing is
like self -reflection is by doing the
podcast, we are effectively exercising
soft power.
However, I think with soft power, you also
have to something, you have to have
something to back it up.
And usually it's like, as you said, it's
like, like military might or like economic
incentives.
So if you don't really have anything to
back up your soft power, which I don't
actually think it's called hard power, but
we'll just call it that.
If you don't have that, then you don't
really have soft power, so to speak.
I think it's soft power is best
characterized by, and you know this
phrase.
I think most Americans know the phrase
which is like speak softly and carry a big
stick.
Yep.
And I had forgotten this.
So I looked up the quote cause I just
wanted to make sure we got it right.
That's not the end of the quote.
okay.
What's the end of the quote?
It speaks softly and carry a big stick.
You will go far.
And wow, that, those last four words were
correct.
Very correct.
Yeah, I mean, so that's it's not like a
super old quote.
It's from the, you know, the early 1900s.
And I guess the way I understand it is,
you know, is basically it's just that is
be like, I guess, be humble, be like non
-threatening.
But if need be, you can back that up with
your power.
And yeah, and that's it's I would say it's
a balancing act.
more or less.
And I don't know if we mentioned his name,
but that quote was from President Theodore
Roosevelt.
You know, he said Theodore.
I just say Teddy.
well, the quote's right.
It says Theodore right in front of me.
I'm just going to get the quote.
But yeah, everyone calls him Teddy.
He's why we have the Teddy Bear.
I was going to say that.
I think that's one of the reasons why we
call it Teddy Bear in English.
I can't remember the whole story, though,
why exactly it's called Teddy Bear,
though.
I don't either.
Although now that I think about it,
If that was at the time he was a relevant
political figure, was that one of the most
effective forms of propaganda ever?
If it was popularized while he was in
power?
Yeah, I mean, OK, OK, OK.
So I double checked really quickly because
I actually wanted to know.
And apparently he was he loved hunting,
especially bears, which is why people.
yeah.
He was also he was basically the first
like serious American conservationist.
He's the reason why we have national
parks.
OK.
I didn't know that.
So, you know, learning more every day.
Yeah, he like went to Yellowstone National
Park and was like, before it was
Yellowstone National Park, he's like,
okay, this is a pretty special place.
Like we should probably have a system for
protecting places like this.
And boom, we have it now.
okay, okay, okay.
That's good to know.
But I guess the reason why we're going, so
this is like the early 1900s.
And so there's a reason why we're going
back so far because I've
Because if you look at it in like relative
terms, the US as like a formal country had
not actually really been around that long.
And yet we had been involved in a lot of
wars.
So, you know, this was before World War I.
And still we managed to amass a lot of
like cultural influence over other
countries.
And I guess for better or for worse, the
US kind of wanted to have territories, you
know, in the Americas.
And so
we were more or less involved in that.
And that kind of carried over into our
soft power, into our cultural power, our
military power.
And so I guess this is the reason why a
lot of people associate Teddy Rosa with
that whole concept, you will go far.
And he was right.
I mean, a large, I mean, I don't think
it's.
It's crazy to say that that's not the only
reason the US became what it was or what
it is.
I mean, obviously a lot of that was a lot
of the world got significantly damaged
during World War II and we didn't.
I mean that's like an interesting point
that you bring up.
I mean World War I also, but definitely
World War II is that...
Go on.
yeah, I was gonna say that's that's a good
point.
I mean, we a solid percentage of the world
got devastated twice in a three decade
span.
And we again, we didn't.
Yeah.
And I think it's a fact that a lot of
people actually forget is the US has
fought.
I mean, a lot we've had a lot of wars over
the past, you know, two and a half
centuries for better or for worse.
But with the exception of like, I guess
like at the very beginning, none of the
major wars have ever really been fought on
American soil.
I mean, you have the Civil War and you
have like some skirmishes with like some
of the colonial powers.
But like on the scale of like World War I
or World War II, nothing of that sort has
ever happened in the US.
And so, as I said, because of that, the US
has never actually been like damaged in
terms of its infrastructure.
Obviously used to have like economic
problems because I mean World War one
costs like, you know, that was during the
Great Depression.
Well, not World War one as the end war.
Sorry, World War two.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
And so because after World War two, we
started, you know, helping rebuild
countries, you know, like Japan, you know,
then you had like the Korean War and then
like obviously Germany.
And so that is also a way that the soft
power is exerted because these countries
are very friendly to the US, which I'm
glad.
It's one of the reasons why I enjoy, I
would say like a good life in Germany
because of the cultural influence that the
US has had, you know, on Germany, on
Europe.
And that was planted early.
I mean, if I remember correctly, both
Germany and Japan's constitutions are
heavily modeled.
after the US Constitution.
Yeah, I mean I can't really speak on the
Japanese one.
I have very limited knowledge but you are
correct.
It was modeled and created by the
Americans.
I don't know how the Japanese feel about
that but that's just the way it is.
But yeah, I mean it sounds kind of cynical
to put it like this.
We created them in our own image so to
speak so that they're friendly to us.
I think it was a good idea.
This was like the whole, the time where we
were doing like nation building.
I don't know if you've heard of that term.
Yes.
Yeah.
And so, I think up until the Korean war,
we were very successful in that.
And then after, it didn't really work out
very well.
like you had like Vietnam, then you had
like, the middle East.
I would say we had limited success there,
if any.
And I don't know how these regions exactly
feel about the US.
I've never really had that much contact
with people.
Although for the Middle East, actually
I've had a lot of contact with people from
the Middle East, but like from like
Vietnam and whatnot, not so much.
I don't think I have either.
But yeah, so it's like the soft power is
incredibly important.
Yeah, and that's probably, that
application is probably the most direct
version of soft power.
In fact, that's like borderline not soft
power with how direct it was.
Yeah, I mean.
But there are other forms.
I think we should talk about the forms
too, because we've been defining it.
So for example, in my neck of the woods,
here in Europe.
Taylor Swift is on tour.
And that's all they talk about.
I mean, it's like every day I read the
news and it's something about Taylor
Swift.
Like, my gosh, she's in France.
my god, she's in Germany.
my god, she's in London.
And like people will pay hundreds and
hundreds and thousands of dollars to see
her.
They'll travel like 10 hours and they'll
sit in the rain for an American singer.
who is basically promoting directly or
indirectly American culture.
I think someone compared it to like
Beatlemania, which is kind of old.
yeah.
I mean, that's a good equivalency.
Yeah.
I mean, every country, so it's not just
the U .S.
that has soft power.
Every country that has some sort of might
has soft power.
Now it's restricted to the region, you
know, like you have regional powers.
I would consider the US a global power.
Whether or not the US is still as strong
as it used to be is up for debate.
But it's still definitely global power.
yeah, and a big part of the reason why
that's staying the case is because...
Again, the biggest is it is the soft power
and it's the soft power we can exercise on
basically any front that you could define,
like the cultural of just having, I mean,
obviously Taylor Swift is going all over
the place, but TV shows, movies, music in
general, all of these things, while
they're not directly meant, I would say 99
% of them are not meant
to influence opinion of foreigners.
I mean, you get exposed to enough of a
foreign nation or foreign cultures media
and it's gonna color your perspective one
on them and two, just on how you operate.
Like if you...
only watch TV shows from the US and the
way they like their social culture is
different from yours, like just
interpersonal relationships, it might
change a little bit how you deal with
people on an interpersonal basis.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, definitely.
It makes it definitely makes your life as
an American easier because you feel like
even though you've never interacted with a
certain person, they automatically have
like a general idea of
who you are, how you act, and this and
that.
Also, even with language learning, there
are so many English words in other
languages.
And it's kind of like a gift and a curse
because it allows you to speak a foreign
language by using a lot of English words.
But on the same hand, you're not really
actually speaking the language, you're
just using loan words.
This is like for example for German there
are so many so many so many English words
in the German language like direct Words
we've taken from you know, English like
internet for example is the same Then a
lot of like the names of the companies all
of that And it makes life a lot easier Yes
It is always kind of funny listening to
people speak a language you don't
And then you pick up like one or two like
loanwords and you're like, I think I know
what we're talking about.
OK, OK.
I pick up one more and seal the deal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so it's just not limited to language
and music, also like all the other arts.
So we've talked, I think a couple of times
about like TV shows, which is definitely
like a cultural export.
But it's interesting because.
Other people don't experience our culture
the same way, so the American culture.
So I grew up watching like a lot of TV
shows, like from the 90s, a lot of
sitcoms.
And I remember them, obviously watching
them in English.
My wife watched them in German.
And so she was watching a translated
version of our culture.
And so it's weird because it's a mixture
of...
It's automatically a mixture of German
-American, so they'll try and translate
the concepts into German, but if they
don't translate, they just leave them in
English.
One of the biggest things is, for example,
high school.
So a lot of my students, because I teach
German, they ask, how do you say high
school in German?
And there's no word for high school in
German, because high school as a concept
here doesn't exist.
There are equivalents to high school, but
they don't actually have a word for high
school here.
And Americans love high school series, you
know, like high school musical, like a lot
of the TV shows take place in high school.
Yeah.
We like having a mid to upper twenties
actors pretend they're teenagers.
And so that's just like not a concept that
translates here, like cheerleaders, like
football teams, like none of that exists
here as it does in the US.
And so they just kind of leave it there.
like in the series, because you can't
translate that culturally.
And so it just creates like this weird
like Frankenstein monster of like German
American.
And they do this like in every culture.
Yeah, well, I mean, translating in
general, when you get to stuff like that,
I mean, you you would know much more than
I, but you get to a point where you have
to make a decision whether or not.
a literal translation is best or not.
And then like, obviously in some cases
it's just not possible, but you have to,
you have to, you have to put something.
Yeah.
I mean, definitely.
I mean, you have to put something there
and sometimes it doesn't translate.
What's, what's interesting.
I guess I'll refer to this as back
translation is when you have like, I'll
just use German because it's the culture
I'm most familiar with when you have like
German references in American TV shows.
And then it gets imported into Germany and
they have to figure out a way to translate
that.
And it's always really funny because
you'll have like, for example, Big Bang
Theory is the one my wife thinks the
funniest is there's this one episode where
Sheldon is trying to speak German.
And it's for like an American audience,
it's super funny.
But for a German audience, it's not really
that funny because the whole show is in
German.
So like there's no joke.
And this is used a lot in like American
shows and so generally what they'll do is
is they'll use like a southern dialect So
they'll make the character speak German in
a southern dialect.
So that's a lot funnier And so then you
kind of get that feeling it's basically if
like if a character in the US was speaking
like like southern twang It's kind of like
what they do Okay.
Yeah, so it's a solution.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's it's even funnier because in
in like the English versions, their German
isn't very good.
So you have to find some way to make that
translate.
But I don't want to go on that path for
too long.
But I think it would also be interesting
to talk about like the cultural influences
that have also influenced the US in terms
of soft power.
So before the show, we were talking about
like Japan.
So I feel like that has been like a
healthy relationship where we've done a
lot of cultural exchange with Japan.
Yeah.
You know what, when we were talking about
it earlier, you know what the one that
came into my mind that I think is funny?
what?
The term umami.
Because I mean, that's like a culinary
term for like savory.
But I think umami is slightly more
descriptive and like, like culturally that
term is replacing savory.
At least like I watch a lot of like
cooking videos on YouTube and stuff like
that.
I don't hear people say savor anymore.
It's always, yeah, you should, these
tomatoes are going to give this dish like
a big punch of umami.
And I'm like, it just like in a few years
span, everyone just decided umami's in,
savor is out.
I think we've picked up quite a lot of
words from Japanese.
I think umami is one of them, samurai,
ninja, sushi, just like a lot of the, a
lot of the car companies.
Japan has a very good reputation in terms
of car in the US, so a lot of them are
very reliable.
Or, I mean, they have that reputation.
I don't know if they actually are.
I have a Japanese car.
I mean, it's been reliable.
I've only had it for two years, so ask me
in like 10.
But at the moment, it's very reliable.
But there's been like a lot of cultural
exchange.
And I think on both sides, it's very
surprising.
So when I, cause I learned Japanese, when
I talked to my Japanese teacher about, you
know, like the cultural influences that
Japan has had in the U S she's always
surprised.
because I think each side views it as like
a one way street where like influence only
goes in one direction.
but you never really experience how the
other cultures experience your culture.
If that kind of makes sense, like you
don't understand like what the impact that
has on them because you never go there.
Most Americans don't go to Japan, for
example.
They go to Hawaii.
Still though, if you ask, depending on who
you ask in Japan, there's still too many
people going there.
I mean, yeah, it's definitely a double
-edged sword, like over tourism.
There was a term after Corona, I can't
remember what it was called.
I think it was like revenge tourism or
something, where the people were so mad
that they couldn't go to Japan.
I think Japan was blocked off for like two
years.
Yeah.
where people just like aggressively went
to Japan and stayed really long and spent
a lot of money.
But tourism, that's actually an
interesting point.
I didn't actually think about that.
But yeah, that's also a money driver.
You know, an interesting cultural export
that, and I think we've talked about this
a few times, and I think it's exerted soft
power in a different kind of sense is
we've talked about how American football,
the NFL has been slowly growing in
popularity throughout the world.
So one of the people on YouTube I watch
that covers sports, Tom Grossi,
Last year, he did a charity fundraiser for
St.
Jude where he traveled to all 30 NFL
stadiums in 30 days.
wow.
Just to kind of experience the city, say
hi to fans, see the stadium.
He ended up raising, I think, like over
$500 ,000.
It was a lot.
So this year, he kind of went on a
different version of that.
He went to all seven international
stadiums that are going to host an NFL
game this year.
and went to the stadiums, did local things
and met with local fans.
And listening to European fans talk about
it, it's like, yeah, you know, depending
on when what time the game is, you know,
it starts at like 2am here.
And then I, you know, I have to watch it
and go to work the next day at 8am or, you
know, whatever it is.
And
know, if you're going to be a fan and
actually watch the games live out there,
you kind of have to be a hardcore fan.
And if that isn't like a power over
someone, I don't know what is like we have
can we as a culture have convinced people
to enjoy a sport that almost nobody around
them probably cares about enough that
they're gonna, you know, tune in at like
two, three in the morning, depending on
what time slot that game gets.
And then they're still going to go to work
the next day.
That is that that's a very good point.
And I wholeheartedly agree with you.
It's a very nice thing here to like
American football.
I've only ever met a handful of people who
actually like it.
I'm not saying that it's rare.
I'm just saying it's really hard to find
those people.
And mostly they're like you said, they're
mostly concentrated around like where the
stadiums are.
But yeah, I mean, if you want to watch
football, like American football, you have
to get up at like two in the morning.
You know, I think it might be more than
you think at the risk of German explaining
to you whatever I'm doing.
The crowd he drew when he came was was
pretty big.
I'm not going to deny that.
Obviously, I'm not like everyone knows
that you're the biggest football pen among
us.
I can barely follow a game, but it's
definitely a lot bigger than
I know of.
But what I'm saying is like, it's still
not like the dominant sport here.
So it kind of gets lost like under like,
like soccer or like basketball, but still
like a lot of sports have been exported to
Germany, like hockey, basketball, not
necessarily baseball, but also like
football.
So they're definitely super, super popular
here.
Hmm.
Sorry for that, Gap.
I'm trying to strategically mute my mic to
not blow my nose into the podcast.
Dipping back to the weather here.
I was at a baseball game yesterday and it
looked like it was snowing with the amount
of cotton from cotton trees in the air.
So it's finally hit my allergies.
But that, I mean, that's also actually
something we can also talk about is like
speaking of cotton.
So like clothing.
I also feel like a lot of apparel and a
lot of clothing from the US has also been
exported.
yeah, everyone wears jeans now or lots of
countries wear jeans.
Yeah, a lot of the clothing that is
popular in the US eventually is popular in
other parts of the world.
I think there was some someone and it's
this is sounds very negative, but it's
cynical.
But I think it's kind of funny is like
when
Like when America sneezes the rest of the
world gets a cold so it catches on so
yeah, so like it's infectious So what's
ever popular in the US eventually seeps
into other countries at least in the West
Sooner or later And so sometimes it feels
like you're living when you live outside
the US you live like on a like a time
delay
because you're like, that's so cool.
And you're like, yeah, but that was
popular than US three years ago.
But now it's just starting to be popular
here.
So that's actually kind of the way I view
things, especially with clothing.
It's funny that it would take that long
with the internet.
I mean, not everything, but I mean, before
the internet, it was a lot worse.
It's a lot slower.
But I mean, for things to be established
here.
It does take like a while.
I guess.
Yeah, that's a good point.
I know some maybe I'm just speaking for
myself and not you, but I think sometimes
we forget not everybody is on the Internet
that much.
definitely not.
I think people kind of forget how many
problems are with the Internet.
And in Germany isn't known for its good
Internet.
I mean, it's not terrible here.
I think Germans complain too much about
the Internet quality here because it's not
like
better than like Estonia, for example.
Yeah, that's a common comparison you hear
is like Estonia has the best internet in
Europe, like the best internet speed.
I don't know if that's true.
I've never been to Estonia, but there's a
good claim to fame, though.
I mean, yeah, definitely is.
But there are parts of the country where
you have absolutely no Internet.
But that's true for the U .S.
too.
I mean, you can drive down the highway for
like hours and not have like any
connection.
And you'll just be in a weird spot and not
get much connection at all.
Yeah, I mean, that's true.
I mean, I've been where you don't see
anyone for miles or you just read
billboards for like 30 minutes before you
have internet.
So if anyone wants to look up and see what
I'm talking about, look up dealer D.
H.
L.
E.
R.
Park in Billings, Montana.
It's our local baseball field for our.
Pioneer League team.
I was at a game there yesterday and it's.
It's it's on like the outside of downtown,
but it's backed up against the rims, which
is like a rock cliff here on the edge of
town.
And because of just where that's situated,
that particular area has horrible signal.
And there's just, you know, random places
like that.
It was actually with the risk of going on
more of a tangent.
They finally finished a new road here in
town that connects.
to parts of town that are just hard to get
to because of it's on the other side of
that cliff.
And it's like going through rolling hills.
And I was on the phone with my stepmom and
the call dropped.
It's like, I can't remember the last time
I had a call drop because there were hills
around me.
Like it was weird.
Like it felt like I was like 15 years in
the past.
Yeah, I mean, that's the problem is that
not everyone has like all the modern
things.
But I guess like if we if we kind of focus
more like internally in the US, like what
states do you feel like have like the most
influence over other states?
Texas, California.
New York.
You think they have like the most pool,
like the most cultural influence like
internally?
I would agree with you.
I think I definitely think they do.
I feel like I'm forgetting a major one
though.
Florida?
I mean, kind of to an extent, I think
Massachusetts, I think was up there once
upon a time, but not anymore.
I definitely think California is
definitely think that's the one that has
the highest amount of influence because
anyone who wants to be a star and I think
if America is good at anything it's
producing celebrities.
If you want to be a celebrity, if you want
to make it, you go to California, you go
to Los Angeles.
Yeah.
you know who else I would include?
Who?
I would include Washington and especially
Colorado.
Colorado because it's been a long time,
but I'm pretty sure they were the first
state to like legalize marijuana.
I was going to say that.
So they kind of got the ball rolling
because that happens a lot with local
state laws.
That's true.
One state takes a risk and like, the state
didn't burn down.
So maybe we can try it and then it
spreads.
Yeah, I mean, I think for like the longest
time, if you if you talked about Colorado,
the first thing that would come to
people's minds is, you know, weed.
I think there was even a South Park
episode about that a long time ago.
About like the whole dispensaries and
getting weed, whatnot.
Yeah.
And I remember, I think I was out there in
like 2016, 2017, 2018, somewhere in there.
And it was, it was before we got it here
in Montana.
So it was weird.
They're everywhere.
They were everywhere.
And we were there on 420, if I remember
right.
I didn't know that.
I mean, I haven't been to Colorado since
the 90s.
It's been a while.
Yeah.
And I just went to Denver, so I don't want
to paint the whole state with one brush.
But there was a lot in Denver.
I think that's actually that's an accurate
assessment of how to classify the states
is generally some state takes a risk and
kind of others follow suit.
But I think there are a lot of states that
have like staying power.
New York is definitely one of them.
I mean, it's one of the most popular
states in the US.
It's the basis of so many TV shows, so
many movies, so many songs.
I don't even know if you can count them
all.
So I don't know.
This is kind of my perception.
You can tell me if you feel this way.
Los Angeles and Southern California,
that's where the bulk of our celebrity and
pop culture and stuff like that come from.
Yeah, but New York, I feel like the stuff
we get out there, like that's generally
like more highbrow.
Like Saturday Night Live is a comedy show,
but it's like such a legendary, long
running comedy show.
Like it's considered like a huge honor to
be able to host it or be on it.
And there's Broadway.
That's true.
That's true.
Late night TV, which I know most people
don't care about anymore.
But like late night TV is like a super
established.
a traditional thing here.
Yeah, I mean, we have so many late night
talk shows.
I take forever to list them all.
But yeah, I would definitely agree with
you that like Los Angeles, like Southern
California, like that's where a lot of the
actors and celebrities are from.
And I mean, it's been that way for like a
long time.
Like Hollywood Hills was, you know, pretty
much empty until, you know, like the whole
movie scene came about.
You know, before we run out of time, there
is one aspect of soft power I think we've
kind of glossed over.
I think it's very important.
And that's economic influence in a bit
more of a heavy handed way.
There have definitely been like, for
example, the US doesn't trade with North
Korea.
Right.
And we're not friend and we're generally
not friendly to people who do.
Same thing with I can't remember exactly.
what we do with Cuba, but we're pretty
aggressively make life difficult for Cuba
to trade.
And just a handful of things like that.
Like if we're not a fan of a country or we
want them to do something different, like
we have the power of the purse to like
make life difficult for them.
Yeah, like a lot of embargoes.
That's true.
And to extend upon that, a lot of
countries use our currency either legally
or illegally.
So they...
Or what they do is they peg their currency
to our currency.
So there are a lot of countries in Africa
and South America that use the American
dollar because either it's just more
popular or it's more stable than their
local currency.
So, I mean, that's I don't know why we
didn't touch about that.
Well, soft power, it's a broad topic.
You can go a lot of ways with it.
It is, it's definitely a broad topic, but
you know, to sum it up before we go, it's
basically getting what you want without
having to physically force someone.
You know, it's like, could you please do
it?
Like, because you like me so much kind of
thing.
Yeah.
And definitely as citizens abroad as a
closing point, we definitely benefit from
that.
So a lot of people, I mean, this is at
least in my personal experiences have been
very kind to me.
because I'm American.
And they've also been very confused.
When I say, for example, I live in
Germany, usually the first question is
why?
Because the US is so great.
And that's not me embellishing or like
boasting.
I've had that actually happen to me a lot
because they're like, the US is like so
wonderful and like the music, the movies
and the books and the actors and whatnot.
So it's interesting because their view of
the US is completely different than like
my lived experiences.
Usually it's better.
Like their view is usually better than
what I've actually experienced.
But I'll take that.
Well, I think that's the case for like a
lot of first world countries.
Like, man, I want to go to Germany.
Like I just want to, you know, have good
beer all the time, like nonstop or, you
know, I want to go to Japan.
It's so great.
everything's so easy and convenient and
then I think a lot of that is also like
either perspective of a tourist or someone
who wants to be a tourist there and then
there's a big difference between being a
tourist somewhere and actually living
there.
That's so true and that's something that
so many people forget all the time and no
people don't drink beer here 24 -7.
Was it just like 18 -7?
Yeah something like that.
I mean, Germans do drink their fair share
of beer, you know.
I'll give them that, but it's definitely
not like non -stop.
But anywho, so that's it.
That's my final point.
I don't know if you want to throw anything
in there before we get out of here.
No, I think we covered it about as well as
we can.
Alright, thanks so much everyone for
listening.
Tune in in two weeks, hopefully, if we
don't get sick or something, for the final
episode of this season.
Alright.
Take care everyone.
All right.
Bye.
Bye
We really appreciate you taking the time
to listen to our podcast.
We hope that it was informative and that
we were able to expand your worldview,
even if only just a little.
Welcome feedback, comments, and
constructive criticism.
If you'd like to provide us with any,
please reach out to us at our Discord or
email address, both of which will be
listed in the description.
Thanks again for listening and until next
time.