I agree with the idea that, "creatures of our culture". I am reminded of this every Thanksgiving. My culture overlaps in that I tend to celebarte both Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, but I also have customs from my hispanic culture. It's important to remember that cultures are not biological. As the book states, "cultures are learned". If people kept this in mind maybe people from other cultures wouldn't seem so foreign. If people have open minds when dealing with other cultures then it's likely that there will be no misunderstandings, which leads to people being offended.
People must not have ethnocentrism. This is another thing that can cause people to remain in their comfort zones and continue to view people from other cultures as outsiders. It's also important to keep in mind that cultures have different standards for how people can behave. The book uses the example of the girl who moved to Iran with her husband. She was just doing what is normal and acceptable in her culture. However, once it's taken out of that culture and placed inside another one, things can change dramatically. Instead of being a women who is walking down the street in normal summer attire, she is now seen as a prostitute. This scenario shows how important it is to be able to understand and learn other cultures.
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Hey there no-name707. Good job on the post this week. I hope week 4 of the class is treating you well. You did a good job on the post this week. I totally agree that people shouldn't be ethnocentric. Looking down on other peoples cultures is wrong. I think people are like this because they are afraid of what they don't know. That doesn't give them an excuse to think their culture is better than other peoples culture. Nobody's culture is better then the other. Everyone's is different and that is a good thing. People need to be more open about other culture than their own because they will gain knowledge about something that they might enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI think Americans experience so much cultural overlap because it’s melting pot of tons of different cultures from around the world. I celebrate Chinese New Year and then St. Patrick’s day a month later, and the next person doesn’t think this is odd because they’ll celebrate Halloween and Day of the Dead. This really does remind me that cultures are a learned, therefore can be unlearned or changed. In American history, assimilation was really important and immigrants used to drop their culture to adapt and blend into their new one. While it may not seem like it sometimes, America is pretty acceptable of different cultures compared to many other countries, but this also limits us because we don’t understand when someone doesn’t accept ours, such as the example of the summer attire in Iran
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