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06 Sep 01 - 09:32 AM (#543327) Subject: Race and cultural difference From: Cappuccino I deliberately kept out of the racist thread, but thought I'd post this for anyone genuinely interested in cross-cultural knowledge without arguments... and my apologies if this has cropped upon Mudcat before without me noticing. A guy called Phil Milano in Florida has created a web forum for people who want to ask those awkward questions about other people's cultures, in a free and friendly atmosphere; he's just published a book of the best questions, called 'Why do white people smell like wet dogs when they come out of the rain?', apparently taken from a genuine question! You can find him on www.y-forum.com A story about it is at www.skywriter.demon.co.uk/cultures.html Regards to all - IanB
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06 Sep 01 - 09:48 AM (#543335) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: SharonA Does this mean that when we come in out of the rain we smell like wet dogs, or that we always smell like wet dogs who have come in? Thanks for the reference, IanB! |
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06 Sep 01 - 10:01 AM (#543341) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: KingBrilliant Just had a quick look at the site and it does seem to be a really great idea. The questions and answers are intriguing and seem to be genuine. Thanks for the link Kristin |
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06 Sep 01 - 10:08 AM (#543345) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Kim C I will have to check that out. My last roommate before I got married was a black woman that I worked with and went to school with. We always had a great time together. And if I had a cultural question, I would say, hey, can I ask you a cultural question? We never had any problem talking about things like that. And, I mean, let's be real... different groups of people sometimes have different traditions and habits, and the only way to learn about such things is to be able to talk good-naturedly about them. |
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06 Sep 01 - 10:16 AM (#543354) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Jack the Sailor Interesting article on skywriter. but the y-forum website doesn't seem to be functional. |
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06 Sep 01 - 10:19 AM (#543356) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: KingBrilliant Try this one.... y forum (there's no underscore) Kris |
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06 Sep 01 - 10:21 AM (#543358) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Cappuccino I have to confess that even after interviewing Phil, I've never sorted out the book title, either! - IanB |
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06 Sep 01 - 12:28 PM (#543496) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Cultural differences are often difficult to overcome, but the race issue is rather simple, we are all of the Human Race. Minor differences in anthropometry and colour contribute little. For example I have always been very comfortable working and conversing with Africans and Asians. Perhaps exposure to diverse members of the Commonwealth since childhood has been very beneficial in this regard. Cultural differences often make stumbling blocks with initial contact. Lack of cultural awareness often leads to unintentional insult. Yours, Aye. Dave |
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06 Sep 01 - 07:56 PM (#543927) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Cappuccino I can't remember whose story it was, but someone was filling in an application form for a job interview, and after all the name and address details, came to a box marked 'race'. So, indeed, they entered: 'human'! It's interesting to see that there are now a large number of books being published on bridging cross-cultural barriers, mainly in business, and there's even one book publisher specialising in the subject. - Ian |
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07 Sep 01 - 06:46 AM (#544300) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: InOBU Good on ya Ian... I was the teaching assitance for Derrik Bell in law school, the Black proffessor fired from Harvard because he protested being the only Black tenured professor in 25 years, decided he could not be a token any longer. Well, one of the courses he taught on race and the law, consisted, for a great part, of students discussing thier views on race in order to uncover their own unconcious views and come to an understanding of the outlook of others. In a school with a hugely diverce student poulation the course was amazing, I think between taking the cource and TAing the cource for a few years, I must have heard hundreds of reflections on race, and still found new perspectives in each class. Though it is true we are only one race (read the book Seven Daughters of Eve, I think the title is...) even a single family! As the title of the great book states Race Matters, as folks have been racialized and we all have to deal with it! Cheers, Larry |
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07 Sep 01 - 12:39 PM (#544528) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Cappuccino Sharon - the Y-forum guy, Phil, has just mailed to say that his book title refers to how white people smell AFTER they have been rained upon... at which point, so I understand it, wet whites then smell like wet dogs. I think that's it...!!! - Ian
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07 Sep 01 - 01:04 PM (#544556) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: GUEST So perhaps people could start by learning there really is a difference between English traditional musicand the trad music of Celtic peoples? Just for a start? |
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07 Sep 01 - 01:28 PM (#544576) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Mrrzy Good question, Guest, and you brought it right back to Music! Interesting site, IanB. I also just tend to ask but I have found since coming to the southern parts of these here United States, that people mind being asked... so I don't tend to as much any more... anybody else? |
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07 Sep 01 - 01:59 PM (#544598) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: paddymac Problems seem to abound when Linnean systematic ideals confront our notions of morality, or lack thereof. All peoples have varying degrees of cultural myopia. That narrow view and field of experience can manifest as anything from simple curiosity to abject, irrational fear and hatred, such as can be seen this very day in Belfast's Ardoyne. There seems to be an inclination in most people, of whatever "kind" they might be, to focus their world among their own "kind." Methinks a good start, for all of us, is to place special effort on teaching ourselves and our kids to meet and get to know numbers of folks from as many kinds of "other" groups as we can. It helps to demystify the "others", and leads to a gradual awakening to the fact that similarities are more important than differences. "Inter-racial" or "inter-cultural" difference are of no more significance than "inter-personal" differences within any particular group. There really is a marvelous array of diversity in the world, especially when you look for it and embrace it. Deliberate myopia is, at its best, unenlightened, and at its worst, just plain stupid. |
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07 Sep 01 - 02:05 PM (#544610) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: paddymac Problems seem to abound when Linnean systematic ideals confront our notions of morality, or lack thereof. All peoples have varying degrees of cultural myopia. That narrow view and field of experience can manifest as anything from simple curiosity to abject, irrational fear and hatred, such as can be seen this very day in Belfast's Ardoyne. There seems to be an inclination in most people, of whatever "kind" they might be, to focus their world among their own "kind." Methinks a good start, for all of us, is to place special effort on teaching ourselves and our kids to meet and get to know numbers of folks from as many kinds of "other" groups as we can. It helps to demystify the "others", and leads to a gradual awakening to the fact that similarities are more important than differences. "Inter-racial" or "inter-cultural" difference are of no more significance than "inter-personal" differences within any particular group. There really is a marvelous array of diversity in the world, especially when you look for it and embrace it. Deliberate myopia is, at its best, unenlightened, and at its worst, just plain stupid. |
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07 Sep 01 - 02:42 PM (#544635) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Lonesome EJ This thread seems to be a better place than the "racist flame threads" for me to make the following statement : I believe that we are all, or at least the great majority of us, racists. I use the term racist in the sense that are aware of and often believe stereotypes of other races. Black people are better dancers, the Irish are drinkers, Hispanics have quick tempers, Scots and Jews are tightfisted, Asians and Germans have no sense of humor, etc. We may not believe these stereotypes, but they are a commonly experienced part of our cultures, and we carry them with us when we encounter people of other races. These stereotypes influence our judgements of different races and cultures, and that is why they are called prejudices. It is extremely difficult to not let these stereotypes sway us, either toward seeking confirmation of them, or overcompensating in the other direction by ignoring any similarities in an individual with these stereotypes. This leads to situations such as one I experienced when picking up a business associate I had never met at the airport. The secretary at his office said "he's tall and heavyset, he'll be wearing a gray suit, carrying a black briefcase." After finally finding him among the 40 or so other individuals who met that description in the baggage area, I realized he was also a Black man. Did she think identifying him as one would constitute racist behavior? If racist equates hate, then I think most folks are not racists. But if racist means viewing individuals through a lens colored by prejudices, I think that I am a racist indeed, and the struggle to overcome this has been a lifelong one for me. |
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07 Sep 01 - 02:56 PM (#544643) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: GUEST Posting an anti-Semitic message using the guest pseudonym "Little Jewford" doesn't qualify as hateful? Sorry Lonesome EJ, but your attempt to start the race wars in this thread, thinly disguised as your high minded way of thinking, is something at least some of us will see through. Just what is your motive for introducing the race issue from another thread (which has now died off) into this one, which was actually a pretty good discussion of racial and cultural difference? To rekindle the flames, is what I think (considering your posting history in the flamewars of summer here). |
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07 Sep 01 - 03:27 PM (#544665) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: Lonesome EJ I stand by what I said above, and what I have said before. You should try it sometime. Good thread, IanB. |
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07 Sep 01 - 03:43 PM (#544680) Subject: RE: BS: Race and cultural difference From: catspaw49 Leej, I can't agree with our Guest.......Had the other threads not been obvious troll/flames, that exact point was on my mind and I believe you have made the point well. There is a distinction Guest between controversial subjects and flame/trolls. We grow up not in a cocoon, but in a world populated by all sorts of people who influence even when we simply hear the words. My son Michael came home from school and was using the nigger because he thought it sounded funny although he had no idea what it meant. We tend to go overboard in either direction to compensate or denigrate and both are obvious. Not to mention someone's race in the situation Leej described is silly, yet we don't because we might be thought of as a racist. In our efforts to be less hateful through political correctness, we have thrown away most reasonable common sense. It's not all about race as Leej pointed out.....it's about bigotry and prejudice. Mrrzy made a comment about living in the southern United States. Do you know what a "Damn Yankee" is? That's a northerner that you might be able to tolerate as a "Yankee," but a Damn Yankee moves south and stays! Worse, Damn Yankees believe they have a far better way and that they need to teach the southerners how things are done. For any Yankee moving to and working in the south, they need about a year and a half to adjust: 6 months to try it and keep their mouths shut, 6 months to see if they can work that way, and 6 months to decide if they like it........because acting like a Damn Yankee ain't gonna' change it! There is bogotry here in both directions, north to south and south to north. We all have prejudices based on experience and teaching. Some of us work to overcome them and some don't. May sound dumb, but I never hired anyone who smoked a pipe. My experience said that with all the fussing about and screwing around, a pipe smoker wasn't really interested in smoking.....and I found that laid back attitude carried over into their sales performance. Now I know that there are certainly fine salespeople who smoke pipes, I just never met one.........Gimmee a two pack a dayer or a non-smoker anytime.(:<)) What we often lack is honesty in dealing with the subject. That website at least provides some degree of honesty. My interplay with khandu and his home state is based on the fact that we know each other's true attitudes and background and have been honest with each other........so the humor may seem cruel when viewed at face value, but is in fact, a sincere form of trust and friendship. Spaw |