A hidden cost of exceptionalism

 Since coming from Nigeria, Taler (pronounced “Taylor”) has been asking questions about America and Americans. He’s genuinely interested.

One man asked this question in return: “How did you get here?”

The man was not asking for Taler’s life story. The man was convinced that people in Nigeria travel on foot or perhaps ride animals. A few cars. But no airplanes.

Taler was perplexed that he could not convince the man that he’d simply bought a ticket at an international airport. That wasn’t a possibility in this man’s view of the world. And that limited world view has consequences: Taler’s arrival was a mystery, probably sinister. Where knowledge is absent, conspiracy theories flourish.

Off the cuff, I dismissed the story. America, and particularly Texas, is noted for its crackpots, I said.

But Taler, with fresh eyes, said this: No, this is what happens when you tell children that America has the best way of life in the world. If all the best is here, there is no reason to be interested in what goes on anywhere else.