a different perception

my roommate has just come back from india and in his conversations about the country, i am shocked by the callous anecdotes he tells and the skewed facts he has. but it's not him i think that bothers me but rather the perception that anything west of california is exotic, inhuman, 'cool.' i am amazed that after spending close to a month in india, he says that india has a third of the world's population. or how he tells of his train trips and the abundance of pick-pockets. or how he recounts a story about a blind man squatting by the roadside to eat and says it was 'cool.' it infuriates me to no end that this college promotes cross-cultural trips across the world but the only wisdom students glean is that Time magazine pictures don't lie. no sorrow about extreme poverty and destitution, about living with nothing and faced with hardships. no correlations made between rich super power nations and exploitation. no international fraternity formed with shared interests and justice intentionally pursued.
it's all so hard to write about. what do i know?