the shock that can come from culture

I was wacthing a special on some local channel here where I live and they showed a place in Hong Kong where people cook cats and dogs. It showed a man cooking in a huge urn. He lifts what's inside with a pair of huge pliers to reveal that what he is cooking is a full grown cat. He places it on a mat and begins to pull off the remainding fur. To the average American this can be seen as being cruel to animals. We were taught that cats and dogs are our pets and not for consumption. However, in Hong Kong it's a normal part of theri diet. The program can be seen as a perfect example of what culture shock is. I was shocked and grossed out by the footage, but teh more I think about it the more I realize I was looking at it from only my point of view. I'm sure there are numerous things about my culture that bother people from China so I guess it even out in the end.

This is just one example of how what's is perfectly normal in one culture can be seen as inappropriate or even gross in another. However, in order for us to be able to communicate interculturally we must not assume that all cultures are the same. This can minimize our culture shock when we come across things that are out of the norm for us.