Movin' on Up

Living in a country like Georgia gives new, visual meaning to the term "developing nation." In many cases, it may seem like it's just a moniker that academics use to label broken-down dictatorships that may or may not be developing but whose non-fundamentalist leaders they want to avoid offending for some reason. Georgia, however, is developing.

Every time I visit Tbilisi, I get lost. While this is partially due to the fact that I have no sense of direction and have been known to get lost in Chik-Fil-A parking lots, there's another insidious factor at work: people keep building stores everywhere in an intentional bid to obscure the landmarks I need to find my way to the office. Today, I turn left at the crumbly concrete wall with the "Giorgi was hear" graffiti. Next week, I turn left at the glass-faced DVD emporium. Today, I find the good khachapuri stand by disembarking from the marshutka (mini-bus) when the road fills with potholes. Next week, I disembark at the newly-painted crosswalk to find my way to the creperie with free Wi-Fi (try the 3-lari ham sandwich next time you're there).

It's not just Tbilisi, either (even though it's mostly Tbilisi). I am here to announce to the world that proud little Samtredia hosts not one, but TWO doner stands, my precious and beautiful source of non-fried fast food, which didn't exist before six months ago. We also offer scoop ice cream (chocolate and vanilla), DSL internet, and American cheese.

This kind of mega-development is helped along by two things, mostly: Georgia is actively pushing toward the West with dobermanesque determination, and the foreign aid flows like agriculturally-subsidized honey. It's all enough to make one wonder how apt the comparison is between American/Western culture and the Borg, if one happens to be a giant nerd.



(For the uninitiated, the Borg is a race in Star Trek that forcibly assimilates other races into its own, erasing their former identities and taking their best qualities as its own. Key quotes include, "I am the Borg," and "Resistance is futile." Consider yourself informed.)


So, the Borg. It's not difficult for many countries to see American culture as a hostile, conquering force, sweeping away centuries-old traditions like cobwebs that are blocking a television. First comes English-language sitcom reruns and McDonaldseseses, then before you know it your fellow countrymen are rapping away in the language of your ancestors, sporting FuBu shirts that are neither for them nor by them.


Unfortunately, I can't deny these charges, other than to say that we're not doing it on purpose. In fact, many of us would prefer that travesties like American Idol remain dirty little domestic secrets. I would, however, like to thank all the cultures we've usurped over the past almost-three centuries. It's pleasant and conscience-easing to think of this in terms of the law that matter is neither created nor destroyed-- while teenage girls in one small country exchange their country's traditional wear for skanky, drug-promoting Western fashion, a musician in America fuses Byzantine drum beats into his latest single. When a city-block full of little old ladies selling spices is displaced to make space for construction of a European mega-market, an organic food store in the US discovers the chic health value of Serbian yogurt.

Where does it end? Don't read that as a statement of despair. As I've said earlier in this blog, my identity as an American somewhat hampers my ability to understand the choice of ethnic history over development. I'm just wondering where it ends. H.G. Wells (and Gary H. Kah, but with a more conspiratorial lean) suggested that the end comes in the form of a one-world government. Samuel Huntington predicts a clash of civilizations. Naysayer historians-- and my Dad-- predict the inward collapse of the American "empire," as Americans follow the path of ancient democratic constituencies and learn that they can treat their government as a teat. My friend from college, unhindered by political correctness, maintains that American culture will "win" because it's more competitive and inherently "better." Would you condemn him less if you knew he was a naturalized citizen?


In the interests of not expressing a political opinion, I'll dodge my interpretation of that question for now. Just a couple last observations that piqued this post in the first place: 1) My host family and I watched a Georgian-language sitcom on Sunday evening, complete with a live studio audience and a minimum of five laughs per minute. 2) There's a new Coca-Cola commercial airing with a Georgian jingle playing in the background, in which the underline of the Coca-Cola outline is outfitted with plates and people to resemble a supra.

Did I mention the number of Diet Coke vendors in Samtredia has tripled since I've been here? That brings us to three...