20 March 2011 The Ignorance Abroad

“The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress is a travel book by American author Mark Twain published in 1869 which humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered vessel Quaker City (formerly USS Quaker City) through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of American travelers in 1867. It was the best selling of Twain's works during his lifetime and one of the best selling travel books of all time.”

“At first blush, Innocents Abroad is an ordinary travel book. It is based on an actual event, in a retired Civil War ship (the USS Quaker City). The excursion upon which the book is based was billed as a Holy Land expedition, with numerous stops along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as a train excursion from Marseilles, France to Paris for the 1867 Paris Exhibition, and a side trip through the Black Sea to Odessa, all before the ultimate pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

“Twain recorded his observations and critiques of various aspects of culture and society he met on the journey, some more serious than others, which gradually turned from witty and comedic to biting and bitter as he drew closer to the Holy Land. Interestingly, once in the Holy Land proper, his tone shifted again, this time to a combination light-hearted comedy and a reverence not unlike what he had previously mocked in his traveling companions…”

Compare to this work of American literature if you will, the trials of on former Alaskan Governor as she is moved about the globe in the care of political handlers who make certain that she never has to form any associations between the nations she visits – tangentially at best – and their culture, society, and history. Palin failed to see the Taj Mahal but did manage to visit a shopping mall for the elite of India. Time for new campaign clothes, paid for by her PAC? Apparently, the elitists of India are acceptable while those of the U.S. have the good sense to avoid paying to listen to the ghostwritten words she parrots.

Twain made observations about the places and people he visited. Palin arrives on the shores of India with a pre-packaged speech that would be best delivered to a lobbyist group or potential financial contributors. She serves the GOP/teavangelist lobby by delivering their fear of China’s navy. She simultaneously serves China and India by denouncing “Green” job investment and proclaiming her “Rape the Earth policy toward the ecology.

“On Libya she said, "It would have been different." Remarking that the U.S. has a tradition of not criticizing the president's foreign policy on "foreign soil," she continued, "Certainly, there would have been more decisiveness, more commitment to those that are freedom fighters that they know that America is on their side.”

"There would have been more decisiveness, less dithering," Palin stated.”

Obviously, she fails to understand what is entailed in such a policy as well as here utter lack of the military situation in and around Libya.

She is headed next to Israel to confer with PM Netanyahu concerning the problems facing “our great ally.” She apparently needs to hear this from Netanyahu, as if it will differ from any of the briefing papers, she was given by the McCain campaign and apparently, predictably, declined to read. Given her teavangelist view of the world, she has no real concept of what being Israeli, or Jewish, means to Israelis and to other Jews. At some time during or shortly after her stop in Israel, she will undoubtedly find some way to proclaim herself a Holocaust survivor. She will most likely blame the Israeli left for not supporting the claim to “Greater Israel. She will spew some misinformed statement about Israelis and non-orthodox American Jews preventing the 2nd coming.

Keep her away from the Western Wall and any place of cultural or historical import. Better yet, send her to Libya. Let her gain foreign policy “credentials” by boring and annoying Khadafy to the point of no return. Hers, that is. Keep her ignorance abroad.