You: "Hi, I'm [insert-name-here]. Where are you from?"
Me: "...hmm .."
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| "But Surely I owe you an accurate answer!" - Quote and image from xkcd.com/222/ |
This blog will not be about one particular topic, and in fact I will make a concerted effort to discuss an eclectic range of topics. I aspire to maintain a very diverse set of interests and consequently this blog will cover topics ranging from sports, music, and movies, to philosophy, science, and daily human interaction, or pretty much anything I feel like writing about. In short, it is impossible to predict what I will write about at any given time, but no matter what it is, I hope that it will be interesting, somewhat academic or argumentative, and "well" written.
Enough about the context, lets get into it:
When people ask me where I am from, I have a hard time answering. I was born in one country (Canada), quickly moved to another (USA), then spent a few years living on a different continent before spending time living in different parts of those first two countries. I have dual citizenship between the USA and Canada, and if we go into my heritage the possible answers become even more endless.
I am sure I am not the only person on this ever increasingly globalized planet to encounter this problem. For example I know somebody who legally owns six unique and valid passports (And to think I felt like Jason Bourne for having two). I am often tempted to be a smart-ass and just say I am from Earth, or I am from North Africa (where we all originated). Anyway it made me think about why we even ask this silly question in the first place.
Obviously (or maybe not obviously), people don't generally want me to answer with something vague like "Earth." Nor do they want me to tell my whole life story. So what do they want?
Well, in my experience, it seems like people ask that question as one of many possible questions we use in order to establish a mutual experience, understanding, or perspective from which to spark the rest of the conversation. It is not customary for instance to blurt out, "Hi, nice to meet you. What are your thoughts on the rapid change the world must deal with caused by an ever increasingly global economy?" or "Hi, how do you feel about earthworms?" Even if that person might in fact know a thing or two about economics or have an opinion on oligochaeta. It is kind of unfortunate that we need these tacit rules to communicate but it does make sense when you think about it.
Another more "sinister" possibility is that we try to establish a mutual experience or perspective so we can decide to make a positive or negative judgement on somebody. For example, you are more likely to accept someone if they say they are from New South Wales, Australia, if your great aunt's daughter lives there. Which is absurd because it doesn't necessarily mean you actually know anything about NSW (although obviously if it is something more relevant like if you yourself are from Sydney, then you are even more likely to accept them) This may be another reason our planet has historically struggled with the issue of race. Skin color simply seeming to be an indicator (however false) that you wont find common ground.
These are just some ideas why we ask the question "Where are you from?" and while I normally respond with whatever applicable answer I think will be best received, (and if questioned further I would tell the whole story of course!) I probably should simply say "Well, how do you feel about earthworms?" and just hope they continue talking to me.
