A rant, feel free to ignore

This has been brewing for ages, but I'm afraid that this post from Mel just sent me over the edge. It all started a couple of years ago, when I noted that NaNoWriMo was rather exclusionary in its title. It continued when people took up the cause of NaBloPoMo. It intensified each year as I noted that American bloggers would casually write things suggesting: "Along with everyone else, we celebrated thanksgiving last night," and when people suggested "I have this sense of solidarity with everyone as we celebrate the 4th of July." It even niggled at me when people posted this weekend about the universality of mothers day. So when Mel suggested we have a NaComLeavMo, I was a little disappointed, to say the least.

Dear Americans. Especially dear American bloggers. Let me let you in to a secret. You aren't the only bloggers in the world. You are a majority, but it's not just you. And the rest of the world is perfectly capable of writing a novel, writing a blog post a day, or commenting every day. To that end, what's wrong with GloBloPoMo or GloComLeavMo? While we're at it, the rest of the world doesn't celebrate the 4th of July or Thanksgiving, although we certainly understand those traditions well based on what you have shared. Some of the rest of the world celebrates mothers day in the spring, when it was a Lenten tradition. (and btw, no it wasn't invented by an American. The way you celebrate it might have been, but it's been going a lot longer than that). We have different traditions, and different festivals, and contribute to our community nonetheless.

Let me quickly point out that I love you all individually, and remember that Mel was very careful to point out UK mothers day earlier in the year, so this is not all about her and it's not all about any individual. It's perhaps just a teensy reminder to be aware of other traditions, and, most importantly, other contributions to our community and the interweb in particular.

/rant.

Comments

[Summer]

What? You're not American? You mean not everyone who blogs is American?

All kidding aside, I have to admit I fall into this trap a lot and being a Chinese-American I grew up fully aware that there are different cultures and different traditions. Yet when I blog I tend to be very American-centric. So, your reminder is duly noted and appreciated by this American blogger.

[Kay/Hanazono]

Preaching to the choir. And not just because my husband is Canadian.

[Betty M]

I like a good rant me! I confess I hadn't noticed the Na bit and was thinking of using the opportunity to get my blog off the ground.

[DD]

I don't think I'm showing my true American standards if I'm not exclusionary to all others. That's why we're spending billions to build a frickin wall to the south, don't you know?

You silly foreigners.

[M]

I am so stupid - I had never even registered the "na" bit, but now you've pointed it out I vote we go "glo".

Thank Gawd you're smart coz I'm so stupid!

x

[PBfish]

Huh. I have no idea what that stands for, I always wonder what the hell everyone is talking about when they start doing the whole NaPoBlowhateveritis. I guess that makes me a REALLY oblivious American. :)
Incidentally, I celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday instead of Sunday because I was in Mexico and that's when they celebrate...

[Flicka]

Mea Culpa, I did post about the origins of Mother's Day in the US without a thought about Mothering Sunday, of which I am actually aware. You're right, sometimes we have tunnel vision. If it helps at all, I can never make it all the way through NaWahtever.

xx

[Aurelia]

Rant duly noted and applauded on behalf of Canadians and others who regularly have the same darn thing happen to them.

We have a different date for Thanksgiving, May long weekend, and various and sundry other holidays, not to mention other issues, like we're not in the same nation....and yeah, I think glo instead of na would be good.

[Meredith]

Get off our internet you damn foreigner.

Just kidding. I totally understand your rant; we can be a pretty self-centered bunch. I swear I'm gonna come buy in November to wish you a happy Guy Fawkes day just to make up for it.

[Bea]

To be fair to Mel, she's usually pretty good on these things. But I also agree that a change to "Glo" is in order.

And I totally agree that people should remember the rest of the world is out there. I've had well-meaning advice from commenters who assume I'm American or that the world runs the same way outside America as it does inside, and apart from the fact that not even American bloggers like assvice, it's particularly annoying when that assvice assumes that our options are the same as those open to infertile couples in their little hometown.

So yes, it would be good if everyone discarded the inbuilt assumption that the blogger they're reading or the audience they're writing to is exclusively US-based.

Bea

[Jennifer]

Other countries? Other cultures? Other traditions? I'm confused. Just kidding. Giggle, giggle. That's one of the reasons I like your blog so much. Rant away!

Am I the only stupid American that has no idea what the whole NaBloBlahBlahBlah stands for! I mean I get that it's a whole month of blogging, but what does that term actually stand for?

[Antigone]

This is a really amusing post when you don't know what the heck Napomofo is.

[katie]

You rant away, sweets. I do feel a bit smug actually around US Mothers' Day what with not noticing it or feeling sad or anything in particular.

[annmarie]

You know, I'm an foreigner just blogging as a New Yorker...and I have no idea what this NoPnsodchsochv business is anyway. My brain sizzles just thinking about it. I'll be in London for two days next week. Watch out.

[motel manager]

When you started the rant, I confess that I couldn't figure out how it was exclusionary at first until you pointed out that the initial abbreviation should be Glo. Yeah, I didn't think of National as pertaining to just the US. That's how American I am. Ha! Anyway, very good points.

[beagle]

As a non-American living in the USA, I've learned to ignore these sorts of things.

It's part of what makes Americans well, American!

I'd blame it on the big pond, but really it's not that, as I've noticed the oblivion applies to Canadians and Mexicans alike, and they are attached, so to speak.

But all that aside, I am all for the Glo rather than Na. (So long as I start getting as many days off and real holidays as the rest of the World.) So who's in charge of naming these things anyway?

[Helen]

What? Not focus on American holidays? That would mean I don't get both Mother's Day AND Mothering Sunday, and any opportunity to get flowers twice in one year is ok.

I admit I still celebrate American holidays, but I also celebrate English ones. And a few Swedish ones to boot. It's never wrong to have a party, right?

[lucky2]

I am an American and frequently think the same thing as you!!! I am so "bloggerly correct" that I frequently don't post on those holidays knowing it doesn't impact all my readers!

[Dr. Grumbles]

I have often wondered about the appropriateness of the "Na" of the title. Some of my favorite bloggers are not American.

[Sara]

Living in a small country now, I am starting to see that it's partly a big country issue. There are so damn many Americans that just trying to be sensitive to all of them is exhausting, much less thinking about other people.

Just kidding. It really isn't that hard at all to realize that you're not the center of the universe. It's just not encouraged in the US.

But you know, I think that this goes on to some extent everywhere. Even in tiny, globally-focused Korea, when I ask people questions like "so, given that I can't find a crib to save my life, Koreans obviously don't use them. So, I'm curious. What do people here do for baby sleeping arrangements?" I invariably get answers like "whatever they want". True of parents everywhere, but the assumption that I am familiar with the array of options among which they are choosing, even though I have explicitly stated that I am not, blows my mind.

[Karen]

Being a dual-citizen, I try to be mindful of my language when I speak of holidays in the US... I try not to speak in universal terms, but I'm certain that I slip up sometimes. I know that the majority of my readers are Americans based on my blog stats, but I also know that I have a significant UK contingent (which makes my little Scottish-born-self proud!) as well. So I'm sorry if I've slipped up also.

[artsweet]

I prefer to call it "nowblowme"

So I'm sorry, Glowblowme just doesn't have the same ring.

(You know that a. you are totally right, and b. I am totally kidding?)