Society Secrets: Revealed!!

Yes, it's me, the masked magician here to reveal the top Magic secrets!!

Just kidding. Although I love magic, I can't do any and know no secrets, I just liked ripping off the show title for my blog post title today.

I have a question for "y'all" today. Do you like rules?

I do. Rules means there are expectations. There are consistencies. Everyone is treated equally and right and wrong, good and bad are outlined.

When you start a new school/job you are often told the rules. For every job I've worked at I've had a "company handbook" telling me all the no-no's, my school planner had all the regulations for the school. I knew what was considered a "bad thing" to do. But what about in the rest of our lives? We live by certain rules in society that just aren't talked about and for some of us they are harder to either notice or understand why they exist. Without either of these things you tend to make a lot of society mistakes.

I take the approach of erring on the side of caution in most situations where I don't know what to do. Coming to America was really a big learning curve for me as the rules of society are different. It's not just the language and local traditions, it's a whole different way of thinking and acting and expecting. Instead of "Sky Mall" magazine on the flight I would have done better with "America for Dummies".

For instance, over here it seems that a handshake is always expected meeting a male friend or even a stranger for the first time. Something I learned today was I can drop a check off (or cheque off... or Chekov), at the drive-thru bank without a deposit slip and the teller KNOWS that I want cash.

I say it a lot but I'm learning something new almost every week.

Something about Socialism

What is the deal with "Socialism"? It sure sounds like a nice word doesn't it? It even has the word "social" in it and everything with an -ism makes it sound way more fancy yet still there is an almost allergic reaction that takes place whenever the word is mentioned. I'm still not entirely sure why except the fact that people seem to associate it with Communism and Big Brother (not the TV show) type governments controlling everything. So, I asked my pal Mr. W. I Kipedia and found a heck of a long article that I wasn't much interested in. I instead narrowed my focus to socialized medicine *groan*.
Until I came to the states I had never even heard the UK's National Health System (NHS) refereed to as "Socialist" and it still makes me chuckle when I do hear it because it's said through gritted teeth. But the more I read about "Socialized medicine" the more I had to agree with Mr. Kipedia that it *SHOCK* already exists in the U S of A *SHOCK*. I know of more than one veteran who happily receives all their medicine and health needs from the local VA. A government run health care facility that is paid for by...taxes. Medicare and Medicaid can also be included in that they are a publicly funded system. Or so I am told.
As I delve deeper in the jungle of American culture like a confused, drunken explorer with a blindfold I wonder more and more about these kinda things. I don't really see where the problem is with adopting a complete health care system for all. In the current system Veterans, low-income parents, children, seniors, and people with disabilities are currently taken care of, potentially, by socialized medicine but apparently the rest of society does not deserve health care from the government. I suppose the wealthy few among us can afford to pay for private health care, as is sometimes the norm in other countries, so it is up to the individuals who are in the middle ground to fend for themselves.
The only problem with adopting this system is the taxes have gotta go up. Yes, yes I know. Taxes suck. But it's better than paying endless medical bills, paying for ambulances (this still surprises me) and emergency care as well as your health care insurance. I can almost hear the simultaneous clicking of a thousand mouses* closing the browser at this point and I doubt I'll sell anyone on the idea. But it's worth a bit of a deeper thought. Well this liberal aka limey thinks so anyway.

*probably more like 3 based on my current site meter count.

My First Fourth

Whilst flicking through the various blogs I try to read daily I noticed a surprising lack of Independence day related posts. Maybe I'm just reading a little too early in the day but I had expected a bit more...patriotism, acknowledgement, comment. I had always thought that this was a big holiday. A day for celebrating everything American. As Ms. AllClick and I drove to her parents house for a "cook-out" (I usually call this kind of thing a BBQ regardless of what is actually cooked) I commented on the lack of flags and decoration on people's houses. I saw much, much more for Halloween. She agreed with my observation, stating with a sigh that "for 3 years after 9/11 everyone was patriotic and would display it at every moment they could. Now it's changed." Regardless, I enjoyed the time off, the cook-out and spending time with my girlfriend's family. We also managed to see a one or two fireworks from a distance which were impressive but then were caught in the not-so impressive traffic and torrential rain. "Never mind," I said "We can see more fireworks on Firework night."

In honour of this holiday I thought I'd go ahead and give a list of some of the things I love about America (well, West Virginia). Hopefully this will inspire some of the natives!

1. Drive-Through Banking

A genius thought of this idea! No longer must I struggle to find a place to park and then run into the bank to be held up in a queue of people wanting to exchange their million pennies for real money. My worry level of being mugged at an ATM has decreased considerably.

2. Friendliness

Regardless of where I am or what I'm doing, if i make eye-contact with a stranger I'm bound to get a friendly "hey!" or "How's it going?". It even happens when I don't make eye-contact sometimes. This is a refreshing change from a usual cold, blank stare or even the possibility of a fight that eye-contact usually meant for me.

3. Free Drink Refills

Surprisingly, I still haven't tired of this little perk at most restaurants. My teeth probably aren't so pleased. Especially with all that ice that they usually come with.

4.Leaning Chairs

These babies have the ability to turn a crappy movie into an average movie-going experience. Just lean back, put your feet up and relax. Sweet. Even better is they usually have those arms that you can move completely out of the way.

5. TV
I was never really was one to watch TV back in blighty, but my experience of the device has changed muchly since being in WV. Over a hundred channels of non-stop information, education and entertainment. Sure there is a lot of crappy television and a heck of a lot of adverts...but never before have I had access to watching Seinfeld, Family Guy, King of Queens and Scrubs episode every single day! I get my fill of education (and Mythbusters) on the History and Discovery channels (yes, I'm a geek I know) and I learn at least one cooking related thing a day from the Food Network.

Well, that's the top five. I'm sure I'll add more to this when I can...