Pop Afghanistan
Before the war, how much did you really know about Afghanistan? I've been wondering about how much I knew. This self-doubt doesn't bother me; the world's a big place. But it's startling the way I get around to asking myself the question. There have been two instances for me in the last month. One involves Rambo, and the other involves the Simpsons.
Let's take Rambo first. I saw Rambo III a few weeks ago. In First Bloodthe forest was Oregon, and in Rambo: First Blood Part II, the jungle was Vietnam. But in Rambo III, the desert was Afghanistan. John Rambo goes to Afghanistan to rescue his old leader from a Soviet base. Along the way he befriends the nation's people, including an earnest young boy who tags along for the mayhem (Afghanistan's Short Round, apparently). The friendships open up the door –albeit in a between-automatic-fire way — to some Afghan culture. He eats the food, travels the land and goes caving for communists. Troubled John even works in a game of buzkashi before the Soviet gunships interrupt.
The Simpsons, several years post-Rambo, gave us the "Two Guys from Kabul" characters in the New Kid on the Block episode. This episode was on my local TV last week. The Two Guys from Kabul only show up briefly, but their time is funny enough to be memorable ("Sometimes I think you WANT to fail!" "Shut up, just shut up!"). It's interesting now to search through old newsgroup archives and see how many people remembered their characters but had no clue on their nationality. "Morrocan? Thai? Indian?" wrote a college student in 1996.
Chances are, if you asked them, most young Americans today would at least know Kabul to be in Afghanistan. The war and its coverage have ensured that knowledge. These same young Americans could not use a map to find Afghanistan, Iraq or the Pacific Ocean, but that's another story. At least now, hopefully, we know these places and countries exist, and notice them when they briefly bubble back up the pop culture froth.
I'll claim that statement until National Geo's next survey.
