You know sometimes these references come in the most random places, but I always find it amusing and telling when people talk about Hawaii as a foreign country. I’m a big football fan and sometimes listen to football podcasts, and happened to stumble across this… On today’s ESPN’s Football Today Podcast Jeremy Green is interviewing former Packers WR Antonio Freeman about the NFL Pro Bowl, and he says this:
“…now when I look at the NFL, and them bringing the Pro Bowl to the United States, to Miami… it’s good in some ways, we bring some of the money back to the NFL, back to the states.”
So, Antonio Freeman, who came to Hawaii as part of the Pro Bowl, thinks that Hawaii is not part of the United States, is not a state lol. He’s right, of course. But it just goes to show you how common the perception is of Hawaii as a foreign country, even among people who have no real awareness of Hawaii’s history or independence movement. It happens more often than you might think.
Typical radical wishful thinking…. and you’ve posted this sort of BS before.
He simply meant the mainland united states.
Isn’t it great that you live in the United States of America and get to bad mouth it?
I’ve posted this stuff before because people say it all the time! Maybe he meant “mainland” as tend to refer to it here (although many people also choose not to use that term), but that’s not what he said, did he? the actual language he used referred to Hawaii as if it is a foreign country. It is not uncommon at all. That’s because people actually think of it that way. Which is not that hard to understand, because it literally is distantly separate from the (rest of) the united states. people think of it as a foreign country, even subconsciously. even if it shows up as sounding like just misspeaking or freudian slips, that’s still actually reflecting their perception. that’s not radical. that’s just reality.
and yes it’s great that our country that has occupied Hawaii does have the freedom of speech so we can freely point out the illegality of how our country came to occupy Hawaii! One of the many things do I in fact love about our country.
Don’t be mad Tom, he just stated what came naturally.
A friend on a return flight from the continent was once asked by a American visitor if he would be able to exchange his money at the airport.
Cheers
“A friend on a return flight from the continent was once asked by a American visitor if he would be able to exchange his money at the airport.”
I saw this happen in Alaska too! LOL.
In Juneau, a cruise ship tourist from the same cruise ship as me, asked a clerk at a tourist trap store if they accepted American money in Alaska. The clerk didn’t miss a blink and said yes.