Globo-Loco- mumbo jumbo

we were planning this move to the USA for 5 months. We went to the American Embassy, got our new visas, sold/ gave away most of our belongings, left our apartment, tried to take care for all unfinished business and packed the things we were going to take in suitcases. We thought that things will be different in the US, and with that notion we got on the plane. After 17 hours we landed on the other side of the globe. This is our home for the next couple of years, we were getting ready for the big change.

But then, I realized that things are not so different from what I had already known. Nothing in the USA takes me by surprise, most of the things are familiar from my culture, and those things that I haven’t yet experienced, I can recognize from visual images like movies and pop culture entertainment.

For example-
-I dress the same as everybody, it’s true I have a bizarre green bag and an orange coat but, they were a bit strange in Israel as well.
-I know most of the brands and shop names; if I don’t know them specifically I recognize the marketing method behind them.
- I understand the language and most of the time I can even understand the slang.
-The TV broadcasts the shows I used to download from the web.
-I can buy most of the foods I used to eat in Israel in the supermarket.
-I talk with my family and friends on a regular basis using messenger, skype and emails.
And so on.

I was raised in an immigrant’s story-teller family, and I’m just realizing that 30 years ago a change in where you live was something that one (my parents for instant) experienced in a much different way. One either traveled much slowly, hence having a lot of time to be in the state of in-between places, or, one was arriving to a new place which was dramatically different from the old place, thus the change was noticeable right away.

I’m not saying that 30 years ago changing countries was easier, on the contrary, I’m thankful for the Hollywood movie industry and Skype inventors who made it free, I’m arguing that today this process is much more confusing. If I’m not thinking about it, I can’t feel that I’m in a whole different place, but the alien notion lurks everywhere and strikes the moment I open my mouth to speak. In today globalization economy and mass transatlantic transportation, if you change your living environment, the change isn’t represented in big things like clothing, food, language, forms of entertainment, lack of communication and culture, but in small and personal aspects of life.

The speedy journey here and the lack of significant differences from my homeland, made me feel as if I can rent a car, drive for 2-3 hours and be back in my familiar environment. The notion that I’m not so far away and the rational knowledge that I am far away keeps clashing in my moments of awareness, for now, the score is 1:0 for the irrational. I’m still waiting for this comprehension of distance to strike me.

For conclusion, to reinforce my argue that from the global point of view, things look just the same, take a look at these pairs of Israeli and American familiar logos. I especially picked logos of established companies that got on their way long before the internet era and the beginning of the globalization discussion.

The question that occurred to me is why are these logo so similar? What does it mean?
I have two answers.
The first one is literal- the Israeli graphic designer copycats the American. The USA is a great source for imitation and inspiration in Israel, so it just makes sense that our logos will be just like the American ones.

The second argues that the same type of companies desire to pass the same kind of message. A big and established bank wants to say “I’m big, I’m reliable, you can trust me, give me your money” both in Israel and in the USA, so it uses the colors blue and red with a straight forward text and a symbol that winks to us for a movement.
A big food cooperative wants to give you the impression that it’s not that huge and that every time you step inside you enter a neighborhood grocery shop with a personal service. So the logo is designed with a non formal font, colors and decorations.

And then, for mixing everything up again I’m wondering if these cultural-visual truths are axiom for every culture (blue and red means power and credibility, orange- informality, and so on) or maybe they are only a Western-American truth that influence other parts of the world by globalization economy.

Again, I will be happy to hear your comments about this post.

In the following week I’m going to dive into Second Life for the first time, I will write about my experiences in the virtual realm on the next post.