James, James...

The geographical ignorance of USAns is often made much of in the press. James Lileks today presents more evidence.

We always hear how the Vietnam War divided the United States. Odd how few people mention the way the Vietnam War divided Vietnam. I wasn't aware that the war had divided THE WORLD; seems rather chauvinistic, but perhaps people in Namia and Guam and Tibet had bitter arguements over the subject.

Dear James: first, to the best of my knowledge there is no such country as Namia, nor was there one at the time of the Vietnam War. Perhaps you are thinking of Namibia - which was not generally known by that name at that time; it was officially "South West Africa". (I'm not sure when the name "Namibia" was coined.) Second, Guam is a US possession, with a large military presence; some people from there served in Vietnam. (If I'm not mistaken, my sister C, who was a Navy nurse, was stationed there during the war. I'm sure she'll correct me if I'm misremembering.) Tibet, I'll give you, but one out of three is not a good score, except when you're trying to hit a baseball.