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A secret blog containing the ramblings of a secret someone...Thursday, August 18, 2005
Response
Well, you'll know where this came from if you are the person responsible for the following passage which really had my mind rambling. I just didn't want to leave a comment about your post on your comment board because it got me thinking about more than could really fit in the little comment section. I hope you don't mind me devoting my (short--I'm tired) post to thoughts about your post.
[here, if there's one cookie left and your friend wants it, you would give it to him, but you would still feel a twinge, an i-wanted-that-cookie-too twinge.
there, the twinge is nonexistent.]
I just don't know that I think this can all be delineated so easily. I definitely feel the twinge of not wanting to hand over my last "insert name here" sometimes, but other times I'm more than delighted to give away all that I have. So, I really don't think it's a here vs. there issue. Or even a this culture vs. that culture issue. I think it can be easy to make judgments like that--I found myself doing it all the time when I was away--but I just don't think it's all that fair. Believe me, I am the first to inflate many bothersome issues about our country and our culture as a whole, but I think, often these generalizations just aren't fair. Maybe I get this feeling because part of me feels so apathetic in the world. Like my political views don't really matter, so I may as well just say "screw it, that's how it is." On the same hand, maybe it's just me being helpless and vulnerable --not willing to lump myself in the crowd of cultural generalizations that make me sad to belong where I do in the world. I don't know what it is. But, I just don't think that there really is a there vs. here thing, anywhere.
I don't know for sure. I think I have to sort this out in my head--and sleep--before I go on any further. This is one of those topics that, if I were having this conversation out loud, I'd be stopping to think and clarify myself after every sentence, which just doesn't seem possible within the confines of this blog and my exhaustion. Perhaps I'll come back to it. Or we can carry over by phone.
[here, if there's one cookie left and your friend wants it, you would give it to him, but you would still feel a twinge, an i-wanted-that-cookie-too twinge.
there, the twinge is nonexistent.]
I just don't know that I think this can all be delineated so easily. I definitely feel the twinge of not wanting to hand over my last "insert name here" sometimes, but other times I'm more than delighted to give away all that I have. So, I really don't think it's a here vs. there issue. Or even a this culture vs. that culture issue. I think it can be easy to make judgments like that--I found myself doing it all the time when I was away--but I just don't think it's all that fair. Believe me, I am the first to inflate many bothersome issues about our country and our culture as a whole, but I think, often these generalizations just aren't fair. Maybe I get this feeling because part of me feels so apathetic in the world. Like my political views don't really matter, so I may as well just say "screw it, that's how it is." On the same hand, maybe it's just me being helpless and vulnerable --not willing to lump myself in the crowd of cultural generalizations that make me sad to belong where I do in the world. I don't know what it is. But, I just don't think that there really is a there vs. here thing, anywhere.
I don't know for sure. I think I have to sort this out in my head--and sleep--before I go on any further. This is one of those topics that, if I were having this conversation out loud, I'd be stopping to think and clarify myself after every sentence, which just doesn't seem possible within the confines of this blog and my exhaustion. Perhaps I'll come back to it. Or we can carry over by phone.
posted by Lisa Lovely # 11:16 PM 
Comments:
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I like this post, and i agree with it more. Man it's weird ot post this here. but i don't really like when it seems like one place is so much better than another, or htinking that one culture is better than another. there are obviously great parts of all places and cultures. i forget what i'm actually trying to say. but we should continue this convo in the fall.
okay, so I am so glad that you posted this!
even if it's just noting that the two cultures are different and not that one is necessarily better- those judgements are still stereotypes that speak for all peoples experiences of those cultures. And, I happen to think that Twingeless Sharing is alive and well here in the good ol USA.
That's really why I first got so angry when I read the post- it's an assumption of my personal cultural experience.
Another thing I often think about is how much my perceptions of the places I travel have to do with the actual act of communicating. And I mean communicating in the broadest sense- even being unfamiliar with certain types of body language or speech customs- I find it's really hard to make the same kind of judgements about people that I make all the time in America when the act of communicating is a little bit limited. Does someone have a sense of humor? Is someone sarcastic, smart, a little rude? Sometimes, it's just really hard to tell and I am left with a kind of superficial perception- or maybe it's not even a superficial perception, but it's just my perception. And that perception is perhaps much different from the identity they have within their own culture.
So, the last point is- how can you ever really be sure about how people feel beyond making an assumption based on what they tell you, actions, etc? And then- if your ability to communicate is hindered in any way, I think you have to be really wary of making assumptions that run too deep and too broad...
Okay, that's it! This is my first ever comment!
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even if it's just noting that the two cultures are different and not that one is necessarily better- those judgements are still stereotypes that speak for all peoples experiences of those cultures. And, I happen to think that Twingeless Sharing is alive and well here in the good ol USA.
That's really why I first got so angry when I read the post- it's an assumption of my personal cultural experience.
Another thing I often think about is how much my perceptions of the places I travel have to do with the actual act of communicating. And I mean communicating in the broadest sense- even being unfamiliar with certain types of body language or speech customs- I find it's really hard to make the same kind of judgements about people that I make all the time in America when the act of communicating is a little bit limited. Does someone have a sense of humor? Is someone sarcastic, smart, a little rude? Sometimes, it's just really hard to tell and I am left with a kind of superficial perception- or maybe it's not even a superficial perception, but it's just my perception. And that perception is perhaps much different from the identity they have within their own culture.
So, the last point is- how can you ever really be sure about how people feel beyond making an assumption based on what they tell you, actions, etc? And then- if your ability to communicate is hindered in any way, I think you have to be really wary of making assumptions that run too deep and too broad...
Okay, that's it! This is my first ever comment!
# posted by 
: 11:36 PM
: 11:36 PM<< Home
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