It's often the case that you can't understand a thing well purely by accumulating knowledge about it -- you need the context that's provided by knowing *other* things as well.
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For instance, you can't understand the US well if you only know the US. You need to look at how the US is similar to other countries, and how it is unique. You need to look at what there was before it existed -- where it came from. And so on.
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And you can't understand English well if you only know English. You're also going to need French, Latin, etc. Context is everything
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Every pundit on this site seems to assume that everything about US culture is somehow unique and can only be understood in a narrow local & ahistorical context... While also believing that things that are completely unique to the US must be inevitable & intrinsic to human nature
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End of conversation
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Try explaining the concept of trains to Americans. the whole country is one enormous not invented here syndrome ;)
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