frightening signs from a globalized world

The entrance of American culture into Turkey is far from subtle. Case in point: as I write this Martha Stewart is playing on the TV at the hostel. Yesterday, however, I encountered something far more terrifying than recipes for how to make the perfect cookie. As I sat in a park on the Marmara coastline at the entrance to Bosphorous, making my way through a delightful interview with a 16 year-old Turkish girl who had written a soon to be published historical novel, I stumbled upon something peculiar. When asked as a final question who her favorite authors were, she gave a distinguished although standard list: Nitezsche, Balzac, Tolstoy, Wilde, Camus, Poe and a few Turks who I didn't know. Yet the last sentence gave me pause: "Also, I find myself very close to Ayn Rand's philosophy." It was a little unexpected and a little scary that she would mention the writer of such moving odes to America, but perhaps appropriate being that the question she was asked translates literally as "Are there any cult authors of yours?"