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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a neighbor who’s FS. She acts like nobody but her has any right to an opinion about international politics. I don’t even find her that well informed, pretty parochial actually. My guess is that the job isn’t actually that exciting under the surface. Hard to make a difference there,[b] so they console themselves by feeling worldly. [/b][/quote]

By definition, they ARE worldly. What a strange criticism.

[/quote]

Disagree. They work in foreign policy and live outside the US. But they do that in a bubble. I think it’s faux worldliness. As a taxpayer and American who lives overseas sometimes,  I think their lack of worldliness, lack of curiosity and their arrogance overseas to be disappointing and doing more harm than good. The Ugly American lives on. So disappointing. They’re also way too arrogant and focused on status to hear this critique. [/quote]

+1. Living in embassy housing with security and support infrastructure doing everything for you definitely doesn’t make you worldly. I would actually consider most FSOs I know sheltered and out of touch.[/quote]

I agree with this. Especially those that live in poorer countries and have a full staff of live-in help at home. As someone said to me, “It takes about a week to get used to, and the rest of your life to get over.”  I also have seen that, despite home leave, they get oddly out of touch with the US.  It’s like they expect the US to be frozen in time from whenever they first left for their first assignment.

I think the snobbery also is a remainder of the days when most FSOs came from the Ivy League (like the CIA).  They say that the KGB used to get the Ivy League yearbooks, because they could help identify CIA officers. [/quote]

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