I have both New Zealand updates AND a short topic today. Not only that, it’s my second podcast this week! I can’t remember the last time I did that. After NZ news (including an update), it’s on to today’s short topic: There are some unusual things I miss about the US, and today’s show art shows one (thanks for the photo, Lord Byron of Illinois!). I talk about that and a few other random things—not the sort of things that most people think about. Comments let me further comment on an earlier topic.
Links for this episode
Sikh Council plans legal action over turban ban
Transgender group left with few options
New kiwifruit varieties on the way
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You said, in your list of US holidays not observed in NZ, “no Veterans Day.” But don’t you have something else for November 11, Remembrance Day? NZ did fight in WWI.
We had a similar conflict over whether or not Sikh RCMP officers were allowed to wear their turbans while on duty. It’s not part of the uniform, you see. It was eventually decided that they could. A question that occurs to me about the clubs is whether they also exclude observant Jews, for wearing yarmulkes (skull caps.) Such rules can easily look like a way to exclude particular ethnic/religious groups without having to (perhaps) violate the law by stating the real goal explicitly.
As for American cultural insularity, I have sometimes been shocked by many (obviously not all) Americans’ complete ignorance of the fact that, in other countries, things are actually different. Maybe it’s because so many of them grow up without ever leaving the U.S.