Insightful musings on culture and identity.....

Attempting a Stance on the Bad Side to Public Politics

2010-05-21T23:46:00.000-04:00

I won't pretend that I'm knowledgable about politics. It is almost embarassing how little I have retained over my numerous history courses over the years. I know the basics and that hardly gives me the right to pick fights over the subject, but lately I am just thoroughly disgusted with America. A favorite news site of mine, Current.com, used to track the most interesting and peculiar articles across the internet and put them all on one site where online participants could comment on them. Ever since the election of President Obama, however, the site has become plagued with countless articles about how unfit he is as a president and how he is probably a terrorist and how he cheated his way into the presidency by faking a birth certificate. Of course we have the freedom of speech (to a point) here in the United States of America, but why must we let our political positions haze our judgement and cause it to let us post ridiculously unfounded "articles"/opinions on what is supposed to be a legitmate news site? So many people across this nation of ours get so worked up over all this political nonsense and it just frustrates me so much. It's difficult for me to formulate an opinion on the subject with clear evidence to support my argument, but I always wonder whether these people having fits over Obama actually care all that much about his political decisions. Or perhaps those people were never really all that informed on the subject in the first place and they are just wreaking havoc on this country for the hell of it.

The Glorification of Violence in America

2010-05-16T12:36:00.000-04:00

Recently a video surfaced of a Texan teacher beating a 13-year old student in front of an entire class of students. The video was shot on a cell phone and led to the teacher being put on administrative leave and was fired soon after. Such a disgusting act of brutality is only further evidence of our culture's natural leanings towards violence. Why must it be so glorified in our movie theaters and television screens when it only serves to influence our people into doing extremely negative things? Such violence is perfectly acceptable to most American audiences, with this new generation becoming completely desensitized to the heaps of gore featured in the "Saw" movies. Over in European culture, they do not enjoy viewing violence anywhere near to the extent that Americans do. What is it in our nation's past that has made us predisposed to all of this? Some blame can be directed towards the film industry and graphic videogames too, but I believe there to be some aspect to the whole thing that is not entertainment-based.

Twilight-Obsessed Nation Names Babies After Characters...Eww

2010-05-07T12:24:00.001-04:00

Recently a list that compiled the top baby names of 2009 was released and I am thoroughly disgusted that they are Isabella and Jacob, a clear indicator that our society (especially the fertile part of it) is obsessed with this Twilight nonsense. All I can say to this major issue is a resounding eww. The novels are total crap, showing that our nation has no interest in quality literature. The movies aren't even remotely enjoyable, either, taking various aspects of typical Hollywood action and romance movies and mashing them together recklessly. Our culture here in America (especially here, but also worldwide) is completely driven by what happens to be popular at the moment, regardless of its worth. I'm sure plenty of those obsessed tweens (some of whom I bet are young mothers naming their children after the characters) are not even that into the whole series, just pretending to like it because it's what's hot at the moment. Ugh, American culture.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37017629/ns/today-parenting_and_family/

Sticking Up For Tyler Perry Movies

2010-05-01T01:31:00.000-04:00

Recently I have become fascinated by the actor-screenwriter-playwright-director Tyler Perry, a man who is seen by many to be the male version of Oprah, someone whose life story has motivated people to pursue their dreams no matter their status in life. He has proven to be very divisive in the African-American community, with nearly all absolutely loving his movies or loathing them with a passion. It's been said that he plays on stereotypes and that by focusing entire films on them, especially with his infamously outspoken character Madea, he is perpetuating these very stereotypes. But, as someone who is currently in the midst of a Tyler Perry-marathon and approaching the point of having viewed all of his films, I personally think that these haters need to lighten up. They are incredibly fun films, allowing good-natured humor in movies that also deal with serious issues, oftentimes being domestic violence and infidelity. Are they representative of all Africa-Americans? Of course not, but that is not to say that every character happens to be a stereotype, and a negative one at that. These are typically inspirational (and usually very Christian) stories, and whether a character starts the movie off as a crack head or a prostitute, chances are that they will be redeemed by the end (assuming they are not the villian, in which case redemption only seems to occur in his first movie). I admire many of these characters and they will likely be sticking with me for a good long while.

Total English: An American ideal or unrealistic pipedream?

2010-04-25T01:01:00.000-04:00

   After staying in a country for at least a few years, why would one not go out of their way to learn that country's official language? If one expects to be treated like your average citizen, being able to communicate in the "average" language should be a given.
   Today, while at my workplace, I encountered an Asian customer purchasing some groceries. The only problem was that she tried telling me something in whatever language she spoke and seemed frustrated and positively angry when I clearly had no idea whatsoever of what she was saying.
   It's a terribly American way of thinking that everyone in our country should be able to speak English, the language of the masses. But, is that really asking too much? Sure, it's supposedly one of the most difficult languages to learn and these are people that have not been learning about it since birth. However, to expect to express oneself soley through vague hand gestures is simply asking too much. Frustration is understandable, but anger cannot be tolerated when it is likely that this person has had a multitude of opportunities to learn the language they are guarenteed to be able to communicate in in the States.

Outrage over power outage-- would it occur in other cultures?

2010-04-18T10:52:00.000-04:00

I woke up early this morning to see that my power had gone off and I was instantly OUTRAGED. It had rained lightly the previous night, but nothing to an extent that it would topple power lines and cause devastation to THIS extent. Several hours later, I again woke up to see my power back on and was absolutely relieved. My reaction to the miniature blackout reveals a lot about me and my reliance on electricity to ensure productivity in the day, something I believe to be characteristic of much of this nation. That got me thinking about whether it would also fit with other nations as well. I imagine all developed countries have electricity, but does that mean that they rely on it to the extent that we do here? And, what of developed countries? Surely a handful of them have electricity, but use is probably rarer. And, as for those countries where electricity does not even exist, how do the people manage to cope? The whole thing just got me thinking.

Spending habits across cultures, generations

2010-04-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

Constantly I am assaulted with complaints about how I spend too much money. Whether it's going movies on a weekly basis or ordering movies online or spending an inordinate amount of cash on impulse buys, people say that I am the definition of a spendthrift. Maybe it's the fact that I only have a manageable amount of bills to pay every month, unlike the thousands I will be facing on my own a few years from now. Maybe it's just something in my nature. The whole ordeal got me thinking about how certain cultures can get stereotyped by their spending habits. Jewish people are notoriously known for controlling money. Studies have even been done on the subject. My Asian friends' less-Americanized parents are also said to be very stingy with their money, but it certainly doesn't seem like that when those friends walk away from visiting distant relatives with several hundred dollars in their pocks for no apparent reason. I can't think of any other cultures who have their spending habits generalized, but it just got me thinking.

Two nations, two different worlds

2010-03-28T16:59:00.001-04:00

     I recently watched the HBO documentary "Afghan Star" and was absolutely shocked to see the extreme prejudices still existing in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Focusing on four contestants on the country's newly formed version of reality staple "American Idol", the film delves into how the return of music to the country has driven some of its people off the walls.
     Under the rule of the cruel Taliban, music was banned in the country and despite the terrorist organization being officially "overthrown", the mindset they instilled in the people still has prevailed in far too many. Some say that the women competing on the show should be killed for participating, for the whole thing goes against the country's traditional set of values. The contestants competing for votes are in a very dangerous situation and must have bodyguards at all times when they go outside on their way to the show.
     Such censorship makes me wonder about our very own "American Idol" and the major differences between the two seperate viewing audiences. While stalkers abound in America, probably even more so than in Afghanistan, competing on a reality show is hardly as dangerous here as it is there. We may not have ever experienced the banning of such a popular entertainment medium like they have, but religion also does not rule our country in any shape or form to the extreme extent that it does in Afghanistan. The differences between us are plenty, yet we still all come together in front of our televisions to watch people like us sing their hearts out, even if one is plotting the deaths of the contestants a lot more than the other.

Can we blame our prejudices on anything but ourselves?

2010-03-21T00:10:00.002-04:00

     Friday afternoon I came home from school and started channel surfing and eventually I saw that Ellen DeGeneres was interviewing the teenage lesbian from Mississippi whose school board cancelled her prom because she planned to bring a female date and wear a tux. Ellen presented the teen with a $30,000 scholarship to help fund her future, and I couldn't help but smile for her. She was publicizing a major issue of homophobia and inequality, yet she had to put up with all these disgusting comments from her classmates and fellow townspeople. However, despite all of the hate, her family was now going to be able to send her to college more comfortably. Plus, she was broadcasting the intolerance that was preventing her from experiencing one of the most pivotal high school experiences.

     The next day, I happened to be at a party celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday party. We arrived at my uncle's house fairly early and quickly branched off into groups. As my mother and sisters received the tour of the grounds, I sat in the living room and started reading. And so, it was from this spot where I overheard my father and uncle commenting on the story of the teen receiving the scholarship. It started in a joking manner and evolved into a cruel tirade, using offensive slang that would make anyone feel uncomfortable. I sat there in my room, half shocked at the disturbing prejudice of my father and uncle.

     On the other hand, I really had no reason to be surprised. My father's side of the family (the relatives at the party) are extremely Republican, conservative, pro-military, etc. Such comments were not atypical when being around these people.

   The whole thing got me wondering about what we can base our own inner/outer prejudices on. It's easy to blame them on one's upbringing, the experiences they may have undergone. A conflict with someone of Middle Eastern descent could understandably lead an easily influenced man into generalizing the whole ethnicity and damning them all to hell, especially if said conflict is a war. But, just because there may be a reason for a person's ignorance does not mean that it is acceptable.

     Exposure for problems like this (such as the story of the Mississippi teen being news all over the country through various media outlets) was something I considered to be at an acceptable level. Clearly it is not. Maybe all it will take to break down peoples' walls of ignorance is simply more exposure. Perhaps it will need more inventive methods. Whatever the case may be, intolerance is despicable.

Chinese, Japanese, they're all the same...NOT

2010-03-13T00:27:00.001-05:00

While working tonight, a customer's passing comment really got me thinking. I was ringing up his items and came across this peculiar, long-and-skinny, purple colored produce that looked like they could just as easily been growing on Mars. I had my own idea to what I suspected it was, as did the customer, and we both simultaneously spoke our minds.

"Chinese eggplant?" I questioned.
"Japanese eggplant." the customer said at the same time.

Following the awkward exchange and looking up in the computer system for the exact produce code, the customer then muttered "Chinese, Japanse, they're all the same."

I was deeply offended by the remark, even if it may not have been directed toawards me. What this man was doing was generalizing much of Asia, acting as if the two very different nations did not have very differentl cultures either. While I kept my outrage within, I spent quite some time dwelling on it. It was inconsiderate of him to act as if the reason behind the strange eppglant being "Chinese" meant nothing at all.

Even at Charter people love to generalize, especially "the asians." No matter that all of our so-called asians break down into Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Taiwanese, and I'm sure countless other cultures. Generalizing in this manner is something that needs to be stopped.

Society sets life roles and its own expectations, even in Wonderland

2010-03-07T23:38:00.000-05:00

After recently watching Tim Burton's new version of the classic tale "Alice in Wonderland", I began to wonder about the roles society sets before us and its oftentimes overwhelming expectations.

Alice herself does not fit into Victorian society. Her family pushes for her to accept a wedding proposal to a well-to-do lord before the actual proposal takes place, for her whole life's track has been set on doing so would only keep her on course. She is destined to be a mother and a wife, nothing more and nothing less. She, however, has other plans and manages to defy expectations at the end of the film.

Seeing a family push their daughter into a box of what is deemed appropriate for women by the world made me question how this goes on in modern-day world. In America (or even Charter, for that matter) parents are constantly pushing for their child to become a doctor or a lawyer. Such occupations require massive amounts of schooling and often go hand-in-hand with exceptionally large paychecks, but I can't help but think that at least some of today's doctors and lawyers were pushed into their respective careers by pushy parents. To have a doctor/lawyer son/daughter would be an excellent thing to show off to the rest of society.

Too many kids my age at Charter speak of how they are already planning where they would like to go to med school, and every single time I ask them "WHY?" Why is it that nearly every teen set on fulfilling their doctor dreams cannot explain for one second why they want to become a doctor? Too often they speak of how they don't even enjoy the subject of science. Too often they say how they've never really given any other sort of career a passing thought. While many, I'm sure, will turn out to become excellent additions to the medical community, I most definitely think society is challenging these young people to peak at what it considers to be a satisfying career. Challenges can sometimes bring out the best in people, but how is any sort of result even worth reaching if there is no passion involved for so many people?

America has got a problem with sameness

2010-02-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

Americans have a problem with sameness. They see living a life lacking variety as one that is extremely dull and unexciting. This shows up mostly in the food we eat. To eat the same thing day after day would be utterly repulsive to most Americans, yet most other foreign cultures have some sort of staple that is eaten with every meal. Months ago I discovered how easy it is to make a bean burrito and proceeded to make that for myself far too many times a week. Inevitably, I was sick of it within a month and would very much like to never taste refried beans ever in my life again. Sameness is something that has to be avoided at all costs. So many people see Delaware as utterly boring because teenagers struggle to find something DIFFERENT and FUN to do on the weekends. Go to the movies? Out to dinner? Oh yeah, we've done that every single weekend for the past DECADE. Many of us long to move to a city where we assume there will be a greater variety of things to do, a place where we hope we will not be afflicted by that plaguing sameness.

Respect Towards Different Generations

2010-02-21T01:08:00.000-05:00

Having worked at a grocery store for over two years now, I've developed certain behaviors towards people of different age groups and I think that ties in with how American society views our elders. When dealing with elderly customers (pretty much 60 and above), the whole checkout process is purposely much more formal. I feel as if I am obligated to respect them and, however much they make me feel uncomfortable and however bad the seniors' teeth may look, I do my best to to clearly enunciate every word and make sure the checkout goes smoothly. They often pester me with nosy questions about where I go to school, what I intend to do with my life, and repeatedly ackowledge that my name is derived from the Bible, yet the numerous decades they have on me forces me to treat them as if they are superior to me.

On the other hand, younger people command a much different kind of respect. Especially with people my age, many times I will ring up a customer and have the whole order go by without saying a word. Communication in this nonverbal way is something that I personally prefer and believe most in my generation to feel the same way too. I realize this sort of communication isn't really something older people would understand and might even view it as disrespect.

This interestingly ties in with the American cultural behavior of treating each other as equals, yet diverges when it comes to respecting your elders (something much more valued in other cultures than in America).

Deaths Due to Snow: Blame the Children?

2010-02-08T12:19:00.003-05:00

Ah, the snow day (which just so happens to be today). What is it about our culture that makes us so obsessed with missing a school day? Is it that we as young children fail to realize how much more dangerous the roads are once they are covered with ice? People still to this day follow inane rituals that they believe to increase the chances of a major snow storm, such as wearing their pajamas inside out and doing a snow dance. If someone were to actually attribute the snow to these rituals, then we might as well attribute all the deaths and vehicular damage caused by these icy conditions.

This winter, I feel infinitely older. I just absolutely HATE the snow now. It has canceled numerous plans I had this weekend and completely screwed over my schedule for working on the newspaper, which MUST be finished and sent to the printer this Wednesday. And now, with news of another oncoming snow storm this Tuesday night, I am just infuriated at how much the weather is inconveniencing my life.

Does this make me an adult in the non-legal sense? No, but maybe it's just a step towards maturity.

The Contradiction of How Society Deals With Stereotypes

2010-01-30T01:43:00.002-05:00

So, I had to write an essay just now for scholarship about an "encounter" with someone/something that revealed to me my sense of self and my relation to humanity. It is pretty much derived from a class discussion, which inspired me with the idea to write on the topic.

A recent discussion in my Culture & Identity class led to the revelation that Americans accept people based on their physical appearances. We cannot help ourselves from assigning others a label from the very second we meet them, with this being entirely based on their outward looks and behaviors. It’s something so ingrained in who we are that it is not always a conscious effort, but nevertheless these labels will continue on in how we view these people for the rest of our lives. The conversation brought me back to a time a few years ago when I first began watching the British drama Skins, a teen-targeted show featuring more sex, booze, and indie music than your average American audience would ever be able to handle. The experience in question led to me understanding myself and others in a whole new way, relating me to humanity at large.

The introductory episode began by establishing its characters through a series of phone calls between schoolmates. Even with the sound muted, one could see the role each played in their diverse circle of friends, fitting into a seemingly narrow stereotype that served as their sole purpose on the show. There was the “Cool Kid” at the center, of course, who just had to have the “Hot Chick” as his own and the subservient “Best Friend” at his beck and call. Don’t forget the “Token Indian” and “Gay Kid” either! It almost seemed as if the crew behind the show was purposely pushing these stereotypes on the audience at the outset. However, all the characters assuredly evolved over time as each was given the spotlight in the episode of their namesake.

After becoming so intimate with these now lifelike characters, who were not simply being realistically portrayed by the show’s amateur actors but were brilliantly written too, I came to view the people I see on a day-to-day basis in a different context. Even in my own, non-scripted world, I was consistently typecasting my own friends. Was I to blame for taking the single striking feature among my comrades and categorizing them on the basis of that trait? Or, was such a process only human nature? After titling each and every person in my surroundings, it was not as if the labels “Stand-up Comedian” and “Drama Queen” didn’t peg down two of my closest friends to a tee. On the contrary, the labels were well-deserved, yet I couldn’t completely discount the other qualities that made them who they were.

The contradiction lies in that we will forever pigeonhole people in an effort to find some aspect to their behavior predictable, but we also recognize that a personality is the sum of its parts and just because one part demands so much attention does not mean its counterparts have no impact on the final result either. My so-called “encounter” with the show led me to realize this unspoken truth about humanity.