Episode 2: Being Part of a World Community
Above the clouds, somewhere between Houston and St. Louis
In this episode, Anya discusses the humanist value of being part of a world community and how this value is not inherent in US culture nor within other historically imperialist nations. She shares personal stories of unlearning American exceptionalism and gaining perspective on her own privilege. Anya begins to unpack how privilege impacts travel.
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Podcast Transcript
Anya Overmann:
Hey everyone. This episode was recorded when I was *President of Young Humanists International. We have parted ways since this recording.
This episode also uses language that some listeners may find offensive.
Enjoy the episode.
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[Acoustic guitar music begins playing]
Anya Overmann:
Hi. I’m Anya Overmann and I’m your host here on The Nomadic Humanist.
Humanist values of secularism, science, and human rights are inherently communal. The Nomadic Humanist explores how individuals without a single fixed home or community live out humanist values.
Through nomadic humanism, we learn to expand the definition of community, building relationships globally across cultures and digital space, to share this one life we have.
[Music stops]
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On this episode, I discuss the importance of being part of a world community. I also dig into the imperialist struggles we face in nurturing a world community.
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One of the 12 Core Values that I grew up learning at the Ethical Society of St. Louis has stuck with me through adulthood. It’s the longest one of the 12 and the one I committed to memory as a child because I was a straight-up nerd. The value reads:
I am part of the world community, which depends on the cooperation of all people for peace and justice.
Since my childhood, the idea of being part of something greater where everyone had to pitch in and do their part to make the world a better place has just made sense to me.
We’re all here together, we have this one life and this one planet, so we should live conscientiously, aiming to make our world a better place for future generations of all life.
But as I learned more about the atrocities the US has historically and repeatedly committed beyond its borders, I lost the pride I was taught to have for the place I was born.
And I mean, shit, can you blame me?
The US has been at war for 228 years out of the 246 years we’ve been a nation.
A country that has been propagating war for 92% of its history can’t claim they are for peace and justice.
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And then, of course, there is the culture of American exceptionalism…
I distinctly remember learning as a child in school that the US was the best country in the world, that no other country came even close to the quality of life in the US, and that people from other countries were eager to escape their lives to live a safe and comfortable life in the US, and because of that, the US was the only place that mattered.
This was reinforced by being asked to do activities that were framed as patriotic, like standing for the National Anthem before an event or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
My parents taught me to drop the phrase “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance. By the time I was in Kindergarten, I was already silently protesting the unjust injection of religion into a public school.
But what I really should have been doing is silently protesting the Pledge in its entirety. If you aren’t familiar with the Pledge of Allegiance, it’s a little poem that I and many others have been required to recite in US public schools. Sometimes as often as a daily basis.
It goes a little something like this:
[US National Anthem begins playing]
I Pledge Allegiance
To the flag
Of the United States of America
And to the republic
For which it stands
One nation… [Anya sighs]
Under god
Indivisible
With liberty and justice for all
[US National Anthem breaks down and cuts out]
This Pledge is just a nationalist love letter indoctrinating kids across the US since 1923. It’s creepy! It sounds like something the US would convince its citizens that North Korea is forcing its students to recite daily.
And by the way, the words “under God” weren’t even added to the Pledge until 1954 during the Red Scare, which was the contrived hysteria from perceived Communist threat in the US during the Cold War in the 40s and the 50s. They started printing “In God We Trust” on the money a year later.
There’s no sanctity in this pledge. It’s just propaganda.
And that inherent lack of truthfulness about the world is what led to my flourishing curiosity in non-US American cultures.
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I was always that kid befriending the international students in school. I wanted a broader look at the world through other cultures, and having friends from different places adds to your perspective.
And here’s a fun little fact about me: I wanted to be the first woman US president when I was a kid. I even wrote and illustrated a book about it in first grade.
So it kind of worked out for me that I’m now the President* of an international humanist organization where networking with people worldwide is a core component of the job.
But it’s not just a curiosity about the world that drives me. Building connections with people across cultures makes me feel like I belong to the world and am part of something greater than myself.
I suppose it’s a lot like the feeling religious people describe having in their relationship with a higher power. But for me, the feeling comes from being connected to humanity and other living things across the world.
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As you might imagine, traveling full-time and always being in a new and unfamiliar place is humbling. I love to leave behind behaviors that don’t serve me in the location I came from and pick up new behaviors that help me in the new location. It’s an ongoing exercise in adaptation.
This could be anything. Like in some places I’ve been to, a tip is expected, and in others, it’s not.
In some places, you’ve got to throw toilet paper in the trashcan rather than flushing it so you can preserve the plumbing.
In some cities, you should be more aware of your surroundings than in others due to pickpocketers.
In some towns, COVID restrictions are in place but aren’t enforced, and in others, there are no COVID restrictions, but people are proactive about masking anyway.
My ability to quickly learn these new customs and adapt has improved dramatically since I began traveling full-time. It makes me feel like it’s easier to connect with people.
It makes me feel more like a citizen of the world. I love that.
But no matter how much I adapt, there are always structural and cultural obstacles that stand in the way of nurturing a global community.
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On the spectrum of privilege in the US, I’m pretty privileged. I had a good education. A good upbringing. All my basic needs were cared for. I got presents on holidays and birthdays. I was not subjected to the indoctrination of a faith. I’m white. I’m able-bodied and healthy. The most inhibitive thing I have going for me is my gender.
If you look at my privilege from a global perspective, though, I’m even more privileged. About 9.5% of the global population lives in poverty, making less than $1.90 a day. Global poverty disproportionately affects women and young people.
It’s hard not to think about that as a young woman. I’m so lucky I had the resources and support to build a successful freelance business that I can do digitally as my livelihood and
a strong enough passport to move around while I do it.
I don’t think it’s occurred to most of us that a one-way flight is a privilege available to only a tiny minority of nationalities. That is something we in the US often take for granted when traveling. As holders of one of the strongest passports globally, we have access to most places worldwide, while many other passports come with significant barriers to travel and movement.
Segregation based on citizenship is one of the most accepted forms of discrimination globally.
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Segregation based on citizenship is the imperialist elephant in the room that we’ve got to talk about. For generations, Western cultures have had a history of forcing their influence and control on communities all over the planet. Us US folk come from generations believing in the exceptionalism of Uh-mehr-uh-cuh!
Joey Krieger: Amen!
Evan Clark: Yee-haw!
Anya Overmann:
It’s so deep in the way we think that we might not even realize it.
I mean, the fact that so many people in the world speak English is a testament to just how persistent we are in spreading our influence. And the fact that many native English speakers assume that others can speak English in non-native English-speaking counties is an even more brazen display of imperialism.
Perhaps the biggest testament to the presence of imperialism in my travel experience is when I am talking to a non-US American and realize that they are far more familiar with US culture than I am with their culture.
It happens often. And it has the potential to make building relationships across cultures kind of awkward when there is disproportionate cultural knowledge.
This is really apparent, for example, in any touristy beach town in Mexico. There it’s very likely you will witness North American tourists insist that people speak English with them. These gringos make no effort to speak Spanish or stumble through language barriers to communicate, even if it’s uncomfortable and even if it’s what non-native English speakers have to do to communicate with them. They will demand English.
It’s a cringy display of imperialism. And it’s so bad that many locals living in tourist cities are grateful when you attempt to communicate even a little bit in Spanish. The imposition of gringo culture is so significant that an effort to use basic Spanish is appreciated. My partner and I found that even a simple “Hola! Como está usted?” and “Gracias!” are highly appreciated in those parts of Mexico.
Can you imagine a Mexican tourist on vacation in the US coming up to you and demanding you speak Spanish to them?
[Mustic starts]
And even getting upset when you can’t speak Spanish to them?
It’s improbable. But it happens every day in Mexico.
This all begins to shape an important question: When is human movement and influence ethical, and when is it not?
[Music stops]
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To explore this question, I think we need to look at the definitions of imperialism and globalization.
Imperialism is defined on Wikipedia as the policy or ideology of extending rule over people and other countries, extending political and economic access, power and control, and often employing hard power, especially military force.
Imperialism is not humanist aligned, but it’s been the modus operandi of the US since its inception. For generations, it’s been so deeply ingrained in our minds that it’s tough for US Americans to approach connecting to other cultures without imperialist bias.
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For example. A young Black lesbian from the US moved to Bali during the pandemic. She was so blown away by the amazing new life, she took to Twitter about migrating to Southeast Asia. She boasted about her elevated and luxurious lifestyle, where the cost of living is incredible for anyone coming from the US cost of living. She also found a sense of safety belonging in the Black in Bali community.
This was clearly an extraordinary life change, an awe-inspiring lift in her quality of life.
She decided to channel that inspiration into writing an ebook about how to move to Bali during a pandemic. She put it out there in the Twitterverse.
Then, she was deported.
The woman was called out on Twitter for violating immigration laws, not having proper paperwork and tax permits, entering the country during a pandemic, and encouraging others to do the same. The word “gentrification” was used many times to describe her actions.
This must have been an incredibly jarring experience for a Black US lesbian who is more accustomed to being marginalized in her home community. I can only imagine that this was utterly heartbreaking for her and that she regrets not having thought through the implications.
But this woman broke Indonesian law by encouraging others to emigrate the same way she did. She also didn’t consider the spectrum of privilege outside of the US. While her US passport allowed her to blow past Bali immigration, there are many people from closer nations who struggle to gain entry to Bali. One Twitter user criticized: “She’s a triple minority in the US, but a colonizer in Bali.” The truth is that the US is one of the most powerful passports globally – the 8th most powerful, in fact.
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As of 2022, US passport holders can travel to around 182 countries and territories without obtaining a visa.
This woman may also not have considered the optics of what she was doing. Working as a digital nomad is technically not legal in many countries unless you have the proper permits and pay taxes. Publicly encouraging people on a social media platform to take advantage of laws and economies in a country that imperialist countries have historically pillaged is not a good look at all.
There are a lot of layers to this story here that I don’t quite feel qualified to lead a discussion about, but I can say as a traveler with a US passport that there’s a whole lot of privilege in our little blue book.
Still, this story is tragic because it resulted in deportation, and deportation is not something productive for globalization.
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Okay, so let’s talk globalization.
Globalization is defined on Wikipedia as “the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide.” Now, I want to note here that many definitions of globalization heavily involve the expansion of capitalism.
The Merriam-Webster definition, for example, includes “tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets.”
This definition is too exploitative of an approach for me to support.
So for the sake of having language to describe a more ethical and inclusive approach to human movement and influence, I am choosing not to include capitalism as part of my definition of globalization here.
I will stick with the definition of globalization I found on Wikipedia, “the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide.”
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Based on these definitions, one could argue that as long as there is global segregation by citizenship, all human movement and interaction are influenced by imperialism.
I believe that humanity is better off when everyone can move about the world on equal terms, regardless of where they were born. We can’t have globalization happen if there are nationalities that can’t move about the world the same way I can. The politics behind segregating certain nationalities is incredibly discriminatory.
For this reason, I am committed to unlearning imperialist attitudes and replacing them with a more equitable worldview. That means understanding my passport privilege, understanding how my presence in another land can negatively impact the people there, exploring ways to consciously offset that impact, and advocating for equal freedom of movement for all.
In my ideal world, everyone born within historically imperialist nations would commit to unlearning imperialist attitudes and advocate for marginalized people. But we live far from my ideal world. In fact, we live in a world where imperialist nations still spread disease to the countries they’ve historically hurt.
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I’ll never forget when I matched with this clean-cut professional, entrepreneurial type guy on a dating app in Bogotá. When I asked if he was vaccinated, he told me he didn’t need one because, quote, “I taught my body not to get sick.” I don’t know what kind of pseudo-science bullshit he was bought into, but I wasn't having any of it because he was traveling to Colombia unvaccinated during a pandemic and putting vulnerable communities at risk – like a colonizer.
I told him I don’t date Christopher Columbus types and I unmatched him.
Their problematic apathy towards disease and travel has historical precedent.
As Jared Diamond states in the behemoth that is the book Guns, Germs, and Steel:
“The importance of lethal microbes in human history is well illustrated by Europeans’ conquest and depopulation of the New World. Far more Native Americans died in bed from Eurasian germs than on the battlefield from European guns and swords. Those germs undermined Indian resistance by killing most Indians and their leaders and by sapping the survivors’ morale.”
So, you see, traveling internationally while sick has more imperialist implications than you may have thought.
That’s why my partner Phil and I have been extra cautious while traveling – masking, distancing, eating outside, sanitizing, minimizing contact with others, etc. We also tried to go to places where case counts were low and mask mandates were taken seriously. We would hate to be the type of privileged travelers bringing disease to a community we don’t belong to. We don’t want to participate in the historically imperialist precedent involved there.
We like to move through the world as guests who would be happily welcomed back rather than assholes that the locals are glad to see leave.
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The pandemic is something I’ll talk more about in the episodes ahead, but for now, I’ll say this: Traveling during a global pandemic has made me realize the extent to which many people don’t feel like they are part of a world community.
Regardless of privilege, when we are consumed by problems in our own world, we don’t have the energy for much outside that world. And when we don’t feel like we’re part of a larger community, we become more apathetic about how our actions affect others. We don’t see the bigger picture, so we don’t take steps to care for other global community members.
We have all witnessed how the mere suggestion of an inconvenience to keep other people healthy and safe can drive people into indignation.
I have observed in Western societies a disproportionate gut reaction to defend one’s right to take up space in society without the proportionate understanding of where that space stops and where others’ space begins.
[Music starts]
That makes it really hard to build a global community.
But that has only further convinced me that globalization and helping people feel like they are part of greater humanity are things we should strive towards. We need community care.
[Music ends]
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Do you believe in a world where you can go wherever you want? A world where you are connected to wherever you go? I certainly am.
But the catch is that everyone must be able to move wherever they please. No boundaries. No exclusion. No discrimination. You can move anywhere you want in the world, whenever you want, for whatever reason.
That means that US woman that got deported from Bali can go back with no restraints. It also means a woman in Bali that’s been dying to go to the US her whole life can go to the US. Or wherever else she may want. This is a right afforded to her and you and everybody else. It essentially means countries wouldn’t exist anymore, and anybody can identify with any geographical location for whatever reason they please.
Do you still want it? It means a shift in power balance. It means turning a privilege into a right. It means being okay with letting go of an edge over other humans. Are you okay with not feeling special in comparison to other people so that they, in turn, can have access to the exact same things that you have?
It may seem like a silly question, but there are plenty of folks out there with big egos who would probably say no when pressed. All humans enjoy feeling special. There’s something primally enticing about it. It’s easy to fall into a zealous chase of that feeling if you’re not conscious of it.
But I would instead build a world community without any power imbalances. I want global networking with no restraints. I want a fair and equitable globalization experience for all.
I think Thomas Paine sums up the world I desire in this quote, which I have slightly altered to be more inclusive:
“The world is my country, all humankind are my kin, and to do good is my religion.”
[Music starts]
Do you agree? Or would you rather we keep the status quo?
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Carly Turro:
Thank you for listening to The Nomadic Humanist, written and hosted by Anya Overmann.
If you enjoyed the show, make sure to like and subscribe to the podcast. You can follow Anya’s journey around the world by visiting nomadichumanist.com.
The Nomadic Humanist is a production of Atheists United Studios and was produced by Joey Krieger and Evan Clark in sunny Los Angeles, California.
Special thanks to Katie Bolton, Phil Gundry, and Heretic House for donating their time and space to the production of this season.
On behalf of The Nomadic Humanist, I’m Carly Turro. Happy travels!
[Music stops]
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Outtake
Anya Overmann [In cartoonish US Southern accent]:
Come from gen-ur-a-shuns believing in the exceptioNAYlism – [Laughs] – of Uh-MEHR-u-cuh!
Joey Krieger [Also in cartoonish US Southern accent]:
God bless it!
Evan Clark [Also in cartoonish US Southern accent]:
Yee-haw ... Praise be.