I think there is this whole part of America that people overlook. I think they know it's there, but they tend to overlook it, become ignorant to it, and refuse to see it for what it is.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
While some of us may know than others about certain things, it is the thinnest slice of all that is, or could be known. In that sense, we are all profoundly ignorant.
I see people who talk about America, and then undermine it by not paying attention to its soul, to its poetry. I see polarization, reductionism and superficiality.
I am astonished each time I come to the U.S. by the ignorance of a high percentage of the population, which knows almost nothing about Latin America or about the world. It's quite blind and deaf to anything that may happen outside the frontiers of the U.S.
We, as Americans, have so much to learn here. We have a shockingly low level of global awareness and familiarity and little idea of how the world sees us. And those disturbing facts keep getting us into a lot of trouble.
People ask if I miss it, but they don't understand that American culture is so ubiquitous that there's nothing to miss. I don't see myself moving back. It's not that I hate the United States. I just always thought it would be a shame not to live in a foreign country.
Ignorance is my least favorite thing. I really think it's at the core of all our problems.
People aren't really aware of what's happening in other places.
You grew up with America on the TV, and you think you know a place before you get there, and you have this idea of it in your head.
Many people in this world are still so identified with every thought that arises in their head. There is not the slightest space of awareness there.
It is one of the glories of America that we move to higher levels of awareness.