Beauty

When Americans think beauty, they would picture a tall, blonde, tan, skinny girl. However, other cultures don't have the same idea. I'm not sure where they live, but there are tribes where women have huge gauges in their mouths and rings around their necks. Typical Americans would look at them and think "FREAK!" "THAT'S UGLY!" Examples of this are everywhere! It really shows the brainwashing of the media and press in America.

Strange Cultural Traditions?

Recently, Egypt passed a law saying that men can "say goodbye" to their wives by having sex with their bodies, or necrophilia. I have seen so many people totally outraged and disgusted at the Egyptians for this law. But the thing I don't think they understand is that it's their CULTURE, they believe that it's normal, unlike us. Americans are not used to necrophilia, and are therefore repulsed by it. But that is no excuse to condemn Egyptians for culture differences.

Edit: It turns out it was all a joke, but still !

More difficult than it looks.

Making a collectivist game/tv show is a lot harder than it sounds. There can't be a winner and everyone must be included. Since we live in a individualist culture, we're used to playing competitive games with a clear winner. It just feels weird to be out of our element, trying to think of a game that makes no sense to us.

Cultural Differences like South Dakota

Recently, a few of my friends went on the Pine Ridge break, and they came back in a culture shock. Their stories about how open the land was, and how the skies were so clear reminded me of my family's house in Virginia. It's all open there, you can see mountains for miles and miles. You can see galaxies at night; it's crystal clear. Like Pine Ridge, in some parts of Rocky Gap, poverty is evident. Many live in small trailers that become damaged in just about every storm. The closest Wal-Mart is about 30 miles and the gas station is about 5.
I'd love to go to SD next year, but I don't think it'd have the same shock on me as my fellow peeps.

Classy People on the Internet

Paul Iacono’s (he plays RJ Berger in "The Hard Times of RJ Berger" on MTV) came out as gay recently.

Although there have been many supporting comments, there are the maliciously, non-sensical ones.

Here are some of the many outrageous comments on facebook:

• wowoow no longer my fav show fuck
• Wow way 2 ruin a show fag LOL
• I quit watching this show.
• He always looked like a queer
• that’s disappointing…faggot!
• Why are they lettin so many fags into show biz?
• Well can’t watch that show anymore… Damn it was funny

I wasn't aware that someone's sexuality affects the way they act or the show they are on. This must be new !!
It's sad that it's the 21st century, and there are still people like this in the world, spreading hate just because they think their opinion is more relevant and right than other's.

NYPD Stereotyping

In 2011, 87% of people stopped by the NYPD were black and Hispanic.

Adding to that, only 12% of those stopped were actually arrested. But, why were blacks and Hispanics targeted more over the whites? It's just the typical stereotyping of blacks and Hispanics that they commit all the crimes and are the bad guys. I think the police have forgotten that white people commit crimes too! While they're wasting their time stopping "suspicious" people, they're probably missing some real criminals who are probably white; they'd never suspect them!

"And who was it that got stop-and-frisked the most? 92 percent of those stopped were males, and 87 percent of those stopped were black or Hispanic, a glaring disparity considering blacks and Hispanics make up only 59 percent of the city’s population."

These statistics just show that America is so hung up on stereotyping races for something that a small sliver has done.

“It is not a crime to walk down the street in New York City, yet every day innocent black and brown New Yorkers are turned into suspects for doing just that. It is a stunning abuse of power that undermines trust between police and the community.”




Link to article: http://www.thelifefiles.com/2012/02/14/87-of-people-stopped-and-frisked-by-the-nypd-are-black-and-hispanic/

Blatant Trolling and Ignorance.

Remember in my last post, I referred to a man running a Rick Santorum blog and makes the most ignorant and ridiculous posts ? I decided to show some of the more ridiculous of them.

These first four are a prime example of how women are constantly pushed down and forced into a mother and wife lifestyle. I think this guy honestly believes woman are not able to work for themselves and if they do, they'll be hated by God and be sent to hell. I could go on a longgg rant about Christianity and their ridiculous, yet unoriginal beliefs, but I'll spare you the reading.

This is kind of hard to read, but it's basically saying that there are Turks in Europe claiming land for themselves and changing names of places. The Rick Santorum fan calls it disgusting and that the people are insane !!! However, one thing I think he fails to realize is that the people he claims to be his ancestors whom he adores so much did the EXACT SAME THING when they came to America. Did they not claim the Native American's land and start renaming things ? Prime example of hypocrisy.

These conservatives are really butthurt about how people are becoming more and more respective of differences between sexes, sexual orientations, races, and religions. Who says it's not acceptable to be okay with gays ? 

I couldn't stop laughing at this once. These people got SO much backlash for this statement, and they STILL are on their high horses. I could go on forever about things invented by people that weren't white ! White supremacy at it's finest folks.

I honestly don't even understand the logic in this. I can't with this guy.

Again, what logic is "gay marriage is unfair to hetero Americans." That makes no sense !

This guy is obviously a troll, from his uneducated answers, to this obvious attempt to poke at people's tempers, this guy is a class-act troll.

That awkward moment when this country WASN'T built by Christians or on Christianity. Awk.

If you don't believe me, google it or here's a nice website: http://www.nobeliefs.com/Tripoli.htm

Why do these people get to be normal ? Who says so ? Ugh, conservatives are really self-centered and ignorant, sometimes all the time.

I cannot fathom why they think that just because the white man made America what it is today, makes their actions justified. They mindlessly killed Native Americans because they wanted the land. How ridiculous. Just, no. Ms Lober, don't go crazy !

Last one I promise! I just don't understand this at all. There are thousands of children who are raised by single mothers, and they're perfect ! Bill Clinton made his own decisions, I doubt he asked his mother for advice. And these people can't accept that Obama is CHRISTIAN, just like they want the president to be. 

I could go on forever about this blog and these beliefs, but it'd take days. If you want to look at more of this guy's redonk stuff: http://ricksantorum-2012.tumblr.com/

Outrageous Ignornace

There is this Rick Santorum blog I found a while ago, and this guy is just over the top. He's more conservative than Rick Santorum ! I could go on and on about his illogical beliefs with the Bible, but there is one that is just outrageous and ignorant.
He believes that all Muslims are evil and should be killed. This guy got this idea after 9/11, and now believes that ALL Muslims are out to kill the "Christian nation" of America. Mind-boggling right ? How can this person, who proclaims God's word of loving everyone, when he has this awful stereotype of Muslims and the religion of Islam ? It's ridiculous ! People have even tried to explain to him that the terrorists are from a small, radical section of Islam, and he refuses to believe it. Ignorance goes far these days, and it's just pathetic.

While it might not be outright, it's still here.

Racism might not be the front runner today, but I think stereotyping has the reigns. People don't hesitate to stereotype races nowadays. And they think that if it's true for most of the race, it's permanently true and applies to everyone of that race. Not everyone voices what they think of other races, because they probably know that if they speak out, there will be backlash, and they're right.
Everyone's got their opinions about others, but not all opinions are open minded and educated, which people need to be. A Class Divided was a prime example of how we should educate others on how it feels to be pushed down and ridiculed for things that might not even apply to them.
One example of senseless stereotyping is my dad. Whenever the news is on and they report a crime, the first thing that he thinks of is, "It's probably a black guy." I think it's been drilled into his mind that all black people are criminals, when in fact, there are tons of criminals of different races. Another example is his thinking that all gay men are fruity and feminine. That is just ignorance and a lack of education, I think. You shouldn't make assumptions about someone that you know nothing about.

Irregular piece of the puzzle.

Everyone craves to find a clique in school and be accepted. Anyone who says otherwise, is lying to themselves. Everyone goes through it, especially the first day at a new school. The first day of high school, I sat by myself at lunch, as did a bunch of other freshman. After that embarrassing moment, I tried my hardest to find people like me. I befriended those who had similar music, movie, and tv show tastes as I did, and I've been friends with them ever since. Even though it seems weird and rude trying to fit in with another group, you could find people who are like you, and be friends for a long time.

There is only I in this team.

For a math project, we got into groups and divided up the work. I expected the others in my group to pull their weight, but I was mistaken. I ended up doing the WHOLE project, they did not even put a minuscule thought into it. It makes me so mad.
Just like American culture, I expect to get all the credit because they did nothing. You deserve what you work for, so therefore, I should get the best grade out of all of us.

Lunch shenanigans.

So Emma the great and I decided to sit at a random lunch table a while ago. We chose this table of freshman boys, and sat down. We sat in the middle of the whole table, with a few freshman at the end. We tried to make conversation, but they wouldn't have it. So we just conversed between ourselves.
As more freshman came to sit down, there were less and less spots for them on their side, and they would NOT sit on the other side of us. What's so wrong with two gorgeous juniors? I don't know. They looked so pissed that we were invading their table, and they didn't talk to us at all. We even knew one of them! Lunch came and passed, and it was the most awkward thing that's ever happened.

The mall is an unusual place.

My friend Becca has an odd leg condition where she can't walk that fast, so she borrowed a wheelchair I had so we could go to the mall. Seeing people in a wheelchair isn't that unusual, so I didn't really expect many weird looks, but I was extremely wrong.
Everyone would look at us, and then look away really quickly, thinking we wouldn't notice. We got so many looks, just because she was in a wheelchair. I think it was because of how young she is; you don't really expect a 17 year old to be in a wheelchair. But I don't think that's really worthy of all the looks people gave us. What's so wrong with being in a wheelchair? I have no idea.
Even one guy took a picture of us when we were eating our pretzels. How odd is that? When we walked down the hallways, people would always quickly get out of our way, like we needed the whole aisle or something. I just found it really odd because there were plenty of older people in wheelchairs, but I didn't notice anyone giving them strange looks or quickly getting out of their way.
And then when I was in the checkout line, and she was waiting off to the side, these two boys were behind her, pointing and making confused faces, like she was a monkey out of a zoo. What's so different and odd about a girl in a wheelchair in a mall?

Simple things to us, are not always simple to others.

The other day, a speaker named James from Uganda came in to speak to anyone who would like to listen. He talked about the war and how it affected him, but then when someone asked what he thought of America, he had an interesting response I never saw coming.
He said he noticed that we have a hospital for animals, and it is such a nice building. But in Uganda, the hospitals for humans are not even that nice or up-to-date. In Ugandan hospitals, there are no individual rooms for each person; it's one big open space for everyone. He talked about getting in an accident, and waiting for hours for a doctor that never even showed up. He seemed astounded that we have so many more advances than them, even more that we can open up hospitals for animals.
James also talked about the condition of the roads. We have nice, paved roads, while in Uganda, "you would be dusting dirt off of yourself." He just seemed so in awe of all of the advancements we have in America that he could possibly never dream of in Uganda.
It just shows that we shouldn't take advantage of some simple things that we never even think of being extraneous, especially since there are places in the world where humans get worse medical treatment than our animals do.

Movie Etiquette: Is It even Considered Anymore?

I went to the movies Saturday night to see The Woman in Black with a friend. After our discussion on movie theatre etiquette, I paid close attention to those around me.
Upon entering the theatre, I noticed others, along with myself, looking for an open row to sit in. We sat at one end of the row, while another two people sat on the other end, leaving four seats open in the middle. Yet another couple came to our row, squeezed by, and sat in the two middle seats, leaving a seat between me and the other group on the far end. Typical personal space issues.
As people filed in, they looked frantically around, looking for an open row where they would not have to make awkward stranger contact. A few groups even walked around the theatre a few times before finally giving in and sitting next to a strange group.
Another etiquette that I don't think we discussed in class was to be on time for your movie. The movie previews were almost done, and a few groups walked in. In my opinion, that really bugs me. I think people should be there at least five minutes before the previews begin, because then, you won't disturb others trying to watch the previews.  So then, the movie began. You would expect the audience to be quiet and respectful, but there were so many people talking and laughing at parts that were inappropriate. Since this was Daniel Radcliffe's first movie after Harry Potter, I heard numerous Harry Potter jokes throughout the movie, which angered me to some extent. Even though this is completely unrelated to etiquette, people should respect an actor's career, and respect that their role they're known for shouldn't be dragged into their newer works. End that rant.
Anyway, so many people were talking about things totally unrelated to the movie, which goes against the usual etiquette of movies. You would EXPECT people to be quiet, but that's not always the case. I don't think that should be really considered as a "rule" of the movies, considering there's always those few people who talk, disregarding everyone else. Another thing I noticed was during the scary parts of the movie. A face or whatever would pop-up on the screen and everyone would jump and scream out loud. Normal, you think right? Not quite. People prolonged their screams and talking a few minutes after the scary part! I'd expect people to scream, laugh at themselves for acting like babies, and then go back to being quiet to continue the movie. That is probably just me, though. Then there is the etiquette of keeping all extraneous noises to a minimum, for example, drinking and eating. The theatre should be quiet, except for laughing, crying, screaming, etc. I hate it when it's silent in a theatre and all you can hear is someone a few rows ahead of you munching like a horse on their popcorn. I think people should at least have the common courtesy of trying to keep their noise level to a minimum.
So that concludes my movie experience. I had never noticed these small things before, so the discussion in C&I really opened my eyes to the little quirks in people's actions in movie theaters.