Expectations about How Something Is Written, Part II

That's not food!

If you're an American who has spent time abroad, you may remember the odd experience of watching a US broadcast of the national news after not having seen it for a long time. (Guess now with the internet this experience no longer hits people as it used to before satellite TV.)  

Truly shocked at the rough and ready news report, I had to laugh aloud upon my return! It now struck me as disrespectful compared with the European newscasts I'd grown accustomed to. The national news in the US now sounded unsophisticated, even hick-ish and slightly acerbic to my ears. 

Even more surprisingly, I had a similar response when I was overjoyed to encounter peanut-butter again after so long, full of great expectations only to involuntarily spit it out. My body now completely rejected it, no longer able to tolerate the charade.  "That's not food!" everything in me cried out. Expectations rudely disrupted. 

But you quickly again get accustomed to occasionally eating food that is not food, and listening to overly frank talk on the airwaves...to the point that it all seems normal again. 

In the great cacophony of voices in the US, there's almost an expectation that one will not be heard, or not fully heard, and even if you are you may be preaching to the choir. This affects the attitude and the tone in a less than helpful way sometimes. But in Europe, those fortunate enough to work in print and broadcast media know we certainly will be heard and can diplomatically let the facts speak for themselves. Noblesse oblige -- the tone in many ways is set from the top.

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Did you know American junk food like Mountain Dew soda-pop and Skittles and Coffeemate are banned in many countries, including the UK? Here's a list of banned foods: https://www.aol.com/13-foods-banned-other-countries-130000126.html#:~:text=Skittles,making%20them%20off%2Dlimits%20overseas.