One of Those?

Not to delve into U.S. domestic politics here, but one particular clip from the (quite entertaining if it wasn't so appalling) Katie Couric interview of Sarah Palin struck me as especially noteworthy for us fellow adventurists on this blog.

(The clip is right near the beginning. Transcript below.)

Couric: In preparing for this conversation, a lot of our viewers … and Internet users wanted to know why you did not get a passport until last year. And they wondered if that indicated a lack of interest and curiosity in the world.

Palin: I’m not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world.

Noooooo, I’ve worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture. The way that I have understood the world is through education, through books, through mediums that have provided me a lot of perspective on the world.

What? "One of those?" "That culture." Without going too much into my personal bio, let's just say as a small-town Midwestern-raised traveler whose parents paid for none of my recent (and all too-slim) globetrekking nor my college expenses, I find this distinction a bit, um, "annoying."

Is this a cultural difference? Yes, I suppose so. Only about 25% of Americans hold a passport. But this is not a cultural difference of elitism vs. folks-ism, as much as Ms. Palin would love to frame it as such. No, this is a difference of age, a difference of priorities, a difference of hobbies, a difference of viewpoint on world-citizenship and cosmopolitanism vs. regional-citizenship and ethno-centrism--but "elite vs. populist," "upper-class vs. everyone else?" No.

You know why I am not "one of those" snowmobilers, Ms. Palin? Doggone it, you know I ain't one of those elites who can afford to waste my yearly student income on a snowmobile. And, you know, since my parents aren't from "that culture" that just gives me a snowmobile when I graduate college and say go off and find some lovely snow to frolic in...

Not having a passport until last year? Sure; fine; whatever. Just please don't denigrate those many Americans who do in fact find this crazy thing called "the world" an entity worth prioritizing in our personal lives as somehow "elite." Doggone it.