Foreigners and bad habits

[Chisti]

Americans are a strange breed. They don't consider it rude when they stereotype a certain ethnic group, say the Hindus, as smelly, curry-eating, and so on. But when the Hindus really are smelly and curry-eating, they're offended?

 

[Rakhel]

Who says our manners were superior? Of course Americans have bad manners but this is not the point of the thread. We are the most diverse country on the planet and so foreigners who come to my country bring a lot of "flavor" with them. NYC trains smell of urine because of bums not commuters.

You literally have to watch where you step, because it may not be water you are walking through. Though then again, it may not be just a pile of dirt either.


Trust me, you don't wanna know what some of these people do down in those tunnels. Sometime those bad-breathed, curry-smelling interlopers...uh...I mean, tourists are easier to deal with.

 

[Panda]

Something I noticed this year at uni with all our Chinese exchange students is they like to touch you when the speak to you. I think most of us found that a bit odd.

 

[Vendetta]

Something I noticed this year at uni with all our Chinese exchange students is they like to touch you when the speak to you. I think most of us found that a bit odd.

Interesting. In their defense perhaps they believe touch is the best way to get your attention? I find asians to not be voistrous people when it comes to talking. Some are very quiet and soft spoken which is cool. I just can't stand the smell of garlic from a persons mouth when they speak. That is why I always carry a pack of winter fresh chewing gum to offer.

 

[Vendetta]

You literally have to watch where you step, because it may not be water you are walking through. Though then again, it may not be just a pile of dirt either.


Trust me, you don't wanna know what some of these people do down in those tunnels. Sometime those bad-breathed, curry-smelling interlopers...uh...I mean, tourists are easier to deal with.

LOL yup.....or that only in New York. You east coast Yankees are nasty (See bum and rat video).

 

[Vendetta]

Americans are a strange breed. They don't consider it rude when they stereotype a certain ethnic group, say the Hindus, as smelly, curry-eating, and so on. But when the Hindus really are smelly and curry-eating, they're offended?

I don't know if most hindus eat curry but I find it strange that curry eating people when coming to the States don't know that eating strong aromatic foods and speaking closely to someone face is rude. Having stank breathe especially after eating and talking in someones face to me is odd behavior. Now, if I went to India I would expect to know that perhaps that is a delicacy there and that, I should expect that. But in America, if you have stinky breathe its actually a bad thing. I offer that piece of advice free of charge.

 

[Vendetta]

All people smell of what they eat. Even in the same community every home has its own smell. You do not smell what you get accustomed to.

I think being offended/offensive is first a personal thing. More developed people do more not to be offensive and be offended. They take an interest in others and take the trouble to study other people's habits to understand them better. Sensitive people are also the first to notice other people do their best not to offend.

Some cultures are fairly aggressive towards outsiders or in general, some are very explicit and direct in uttering annoyances. This can both be appreciated as open and candid or seen as unnecessary rude and lacking deeper civilization.

Personally I have no problem in distinguishing rude people from more refined ones in any culture. If people are rude or offensive, I regard it as their own problem. I simply try to avoid them as much as possible.

People are getting more easily offended nowadays. They are becoming less tolerant of other peoples habits, without wanting to adapt to others themselves. I see this as a result of the shift from inward refinement to outward refinement. Window-dressing becomes more important as society is packaging and selling inner values as easy to use products. Politeness to can be a dressing, but at least it provokes less hurt and aggression.

For people migrating to a country it is smart to adapt to the customs of the country. On the other hand for a society it is also smart to be open towards to new influences. I personally think this is a natural process and people worry to much about the in between stages. New generations adapt and at the same time they do keep tradition alive they value.

I think people are more rude on the internet than in real life. On the internet they can hide behind invisibility and be more open of their true feelings and show their true character. This is interesting because it gives us a better view of people's character in general.

Sure you have no problem with stank breathe. I hope I meet you one day and before I do, eat a whole garlic and as you talk make sure I blow right in your face. LoL

Nobody is arguing that you shouldn't have bad breathe. My point is basic hygiene. After a meal its always good to brush your teeth or chew some gum (I recommend cinnamon since studies show the content of cinnamon have bacteria killing properties). I understand people get busy but in California its considered rude. You know someone thinks you're foul if they offer you chewing gum 2 minutes in the conversation

 

[magalaan]

Sure you have no problem with stank breathe. I hope I meet you one day and before I do, eat a whole garlic and as you talk make sure I blow right in your face. LoL

Nobody is arguing that you shouldn't have bad breathe. My point is basic hygiene. After a meal its always good to brush your teeth or chew some gum (I recommend cinnamon since studies show the content of cinnamon have bacteria killing properties). I understand people get busy but in California its considered rude. You know someone thinks you're foul if they offer you chewing gum 2 minutes in the conversation

If you annoy people on purpose in return, it has a different meaning (vendetta?)

What is basic to you, is not necessarily basic to someone else. It depends very much on what you are accustomed too. For instance if I would use your words, I would consider that an insult. But for you it simply stating an example. It is these kind of differences we can overcome by tolerance and taking an interest in people. I think most annoyances come from misunderstanding.

Some people want newcomers to do all the adaptation. But that is too simple a view. Look at history, how much adaptation did the Europeans do towards the American Indians? We all have to flex somewhat and personally I think the result is rewarding. There is much we can learn from each other. Also I think it is not a process that needs to be enforced but something that happens inevitably. People are worried to much about the in between stages. And adaptation often gives rise to more ill-feelings than non adaptation. For instance when people start competing for the same jobs. Then people really get annoyed. It is often then that they start stressing differences to create a we vs them feeling to get group support. People are not by far as rational as they like to believe.

 

[Vendetta]

If you annoy people on purpose in return, it has a different meaning (vendetta?)

What is basic to you, is not necessarily basic to someone else. It depends very much on what you are accustomed too. For instance if I would use your words, I would consider that an insult. But for you it simply stating an example. It is these kind of differences we can overcome by tolerance and taking an interest in people. I think most annoyances come from misunderstanding.

Some people want newcomers to do all the adaptation. But that is too simple a view. Look at history, how much adaptation did the Europeans do towards the American Indians? We all have to flex somewhat and personally I think the result is rewarding. There is much we can learn from each other. Also I think it is not a process that needs to be enforced but something that happens inevitably. People are worried to much about the in between stages. And adaptation often gives rise to more ill-feelings than non adaptation. For instance when people start competing for the same jobs. Then people get really annoyed. It is often then that they start stressing differences to create a we vs them feeling to get group support.

Its my country and we Americans have our culture. If I go to your country or wherever then fine. This is basic hygiene i dont see how you can argue that

 

[elmarna]

While you are left with a view that is not multi-cultured. You professor was not disrespecting you or intimidateing you. The country he comes from is based on a different comfort zone. The fact that they speak in such close procimity is in the trust between you 2. Perhaps you can look at it & wonder if your own feelings maintain a personal boundry not letting you "see" in respects to a different way of connecting. While it is easy to take offense when we do not understand it is better to try to think of the world of all the diverseness in a different way,but still crys,laughs , and wants the best for their children. I tend to find if I do not understand of encourageing a pleasent form & if i can let them tell me of a world I may never step into,yet find a friend with value that i could never have without knowing them!

 

[magalaan]

Its my country and we Americans have our culture. If I go to your country or wherever then fine. This is basic hygiene i dont see how you can argue that

There is no such thing as "our culture" or "our country" or "we Americans". Culture is very diverse, fragmented, constantly changing and a very volatile thing. As soon as you start defining "our culture" you will find lots of people do not agree.

Only in our mind we make up a more or less fixed representation. In reality people make very different representations. People of one generation do not even share the same views of the next.

At this moment in time changes go very fast. All over the world people have a difficult time coping with the changes. Nowadays to gracefully survive it is more important to adapt to changes than to hold on to illusions of unchanging culture.

 

[elmarna]

Maglaan-I AGREE!

 

[Vendetta]

There is no such thing as "our culture" or "our country" or "we Americans". Culture is very diverse, fragmented, constantly changing and a very volatile thing. As soon as you start defining "our culture" you will find lots of people do not agree.

Only in our mind we make up a more or less fixed representation. In reality people make very different representations. People of one generation do not even share the same views of the next.

At this moment in time changes go very fast. All over the world people have a difficult time coping with the changes. Nowadays to gracefully survive it is more important to adapt to changes than to hold on to illusions of unchanging culture.

There is such a concept because me and all other Americans share the same concept. Foreigners that have acclimated to American way of life have the same concept. The only people that don't get it are foreigners. Sure there is Mexican culture, and Asian culture, and Indian culture within America, but there is also Mexican-American culture, Asian-American culture, and Indian American (not Native American) culture.

 

[Mathematician]

I really think people are making mountains out of an innocent mole hill.

If you annoy people on purpose in return, it has a different meaning (vendetta?)

What is basic to you, is not necessarily basic to someone else. It depends very much on what you are accustomed too. For instance if I would use your words, I would consider that an insult. But for you it simply stating an example. It is these kind of differences we can overcome by tolerance and taking an interest in people. I think most annoyances come from misunderstanding.

Some people want newcomers to do all the adaptation. But that is too simple a view. Look at history, how much adaptation did the Europeans do towards the American Indians? We all have to flex somewhat and personally I think the result is rewarding. There is much we can learn from each other. Also I think it is not a process that needs to be enforced but something that happens inevitably. People are worried to much about the in between stages. And adaptation often gives rise to more ill-feelings than non adaptation. For instance when people start competing for the same jobs. Then people really get annoyed. It is often then that they start stressing differences to create a we vs them feeling to get group support. People are not by far as rational as they like to believe.

It's a fact of history that different localities nurture customs that really should be respected. Culture is dynamic, but it's not the task of people outside of its direct influence to dictate the future of it. Misunderstandings will always occur and we can always excuse ignorance, but I'm not going to go to a country like Japan and expect the people there to accept my forceful use ofWestern mannerisms. If I enter an Indian or East Asian household, I take off my shoes before I go anywhere.

Does one have to adjust their entire attitude and persona? No, but it's good to be mindful.

There is certainly such a thing called "American culture." Of course it's a generalization. All sociological terms are generalizations - liberal, conservative, even concepts like female where we usually don't distinguish by phrases like "heterosexual cis-gender non-transvestite woman." To the average American, regardless of skin color, talking in close proximity is "weird."

We even have state-based cultures. I'm from New Jersey. I also live in Texas. My whole demeanor seems to change after I step off the plane, hah.

 

[Panda]

Isn't this meant to be a bit of a joke thread? Every culture does stuff that other cultures can find as bad manners.

 

[magalaan]

I really think people are making mountains out of an innocent mole hill.



It's a fact of history that different localities nurture customs that really should be respected. Culture is dynamic, but it's not the task of people outside of its direct influence to dictate the future of it. Misunderstandings will always occur and we can always excuse ignorance, but I'm not going to go to a country like Japan and expect the people there to accept my forceful use ofWestern mannerisms. If I enter an Indian or East Asian household, I take off my shoes before I go anywhere.

Does one have to adjust their entire attitude and persona? No, but it's good to be mindful.

There is certainly such a thing called "American culture." Of course it's a generalization. All sociological terms are generalizations - liberal, conservative, even concepts like female where we usually don't distinguish by phrases like "heterosexual cis-gender non-transvestite woman." To the average American, regardless of skin color, talking in close proximity is "weird."

We even have state-based cultures. I'm from New Jersey. I also live in Texas. My whole demeanor seems to change after I step off the plane, hah.

You know what is funny. When a home bred white American wants to eat spicy food, he will do so and if people complain, he will say: mind your own business, we live in a free country, I eat what I like. But when a foreigner eats spicy food he is accused of dictating his culture by introducing alien habits: " it's not the task of people outside of its direct influence to dictate the future of it"

If so, Amercan culture has surely changed. The USA used to be the land of the free. People who were persecuted in their home countries for not adapting to religious, cultural mainstream ideas found a home in America. They created their own very unique sub-cultures in closed communities. "The land of the free". They made a constitution to safeguard this right and they spread this notion all over the world. They even had a statue of liberty to welcome other people persecuted for thinking, living differently.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

But no more, it seems...

I do not believe that. What I am tasting here, I know well. It is the mentality that you find in rural communities, where people are related to each other and are somewhat suspicious to strangers and outer influences.

It is not main stream American culture but it is an aspect of American culture. Whenever new groups of immigrants arrived they met with fierce discrimination of people who felt economically, culturally threatened. This is not typically American either. What makes the US special is that it identifies itself as a country that is made up of people all over the world. It is this diversity, not its congruity that gives the US its unique culture among nations.

I think you worry to much. Normal people will adapt to general existing customs freely. It is in their own interest and people have a general desire to fit in. Except for the anti-social, criminal type. But at the same time, Jews will be Jews, Irish will be Irish, Dutch will be Dutch. Even if it is no longer labeled as such, they still continue to pass on their unique character.

That is the true nature of culture. It is mostly invisible. Many customs are so obvious to people they are not even aware of it. Things like food are very visible but only a small, though important part of peoples culture. What goes for immigrants goes for the people that already live there too.

In fact it turned out it is simply impossible to destroy a culture. Christians have tried to destroy Jewish cultures for a thousand years, they never succeeded. In fact the funny thing is, that the more pressure you put on groups to adapt, the more they cling to cultural differences. It is then that they become aware that they are different, this strengthens their identity. That is why people that migrate hold on longer to customs than people in the homeland they came from.

But there will always be people that want to define culture to their own fixed ideological ideas. We call these people "nationalist" and they live in dreams of glorious uniform past and future culture, something that only exists in their imagination. They lead people into the madness of wars and it never accomplishes anything, because culture is a subtle living, changing something that can not be caged. Look at history, war only speeds up changes. American culture is influencing other cultures far more than the other way round, because of its open character and leading role in change. But influence is always a two-way street.

 

[HiddenDjinn]

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

A tired quote from a poem that was put onto a statue that had absolutely no reflection on public policy of the United States. We've always been a nation of immigrants, but we've also always been somewhat selective as to who we let in.(yes, immigration quotas by country of origin).

 

[magalaan]

A tired quote from a poem that was put onto a statue that had absolutely no reflection on public policy of the United States. We've always been a nation of immigrants, but we've also always been somewhat selective as to who we let in.(yes, immigration quotas by country of origin).

We are not talking about politics, but culture
The statue of liberty has always been a strong symbol of American culture

 

[HiddenDjinn]

We are not talking about politics, but culture
The statue of liberty has always been a strong symbol of American culture

But not the poem on its base.

 

[Vendetta]

We are not talking about politics, but culture
The statue of liberty has always been a strong symbol of American culture

Didn't you just deny a few posts back there was no such thing as culture or American culture? You might want figure out exactly what you're saying