Eurasian Invasion [Archive] - Yellowworld Forums

kimpossible

09-04-2002, 08:56 PM

Diverse backgrounds and multicultural heritages are making Eurasians the poster children for 21st-century globalization. Why are they the right mix?
BY HANNAH BEECH

We all know that fusion is hot, sizzling, more caliente than a salsa beat. It's that multiculti urge that propels us to douse a hamburger with teriyaki sauce or buy an Armani jacket with a Nehru collar. Such marriages of East and West are a harmless intermingling of cultures: a war never started by adding a dollop of wasabi to potato chips or a bindhi to Madonna's forehead.

But blending people is more dangerous. The world generally prefers its citizens in their own neat categories: Chinese, Japanese, Siamese. They represent the sanctity of our nation-states, our flags, our soccer teams. After all, if you're not one or the other, what are you? If you're, say, half Asian and half Western, where do you belong? Are you a banana: yellow on the outside and white inside? Or an egg: white on the outside and yellow inside? Or are you, as proclaimed by that most swirled of celebrities Tiger Woods, a "Cablinasian"—a Caucasian-black-Indian-Asian smattering of everything, a global progeny of an increasingly global world? And what is that, anyway?

full story (http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/magazine/0,9754,106427,00.html)

AliBabaIncorporated

09-05-2002, 11:04 AM

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 5 2002, 04:56 AM
The world generally prefers its citizens in their own neat categories: Chinese, Japanese, Siamese. They represent the sanctity of our nation-states, our flags, our soccer teams. After all, if you're not one or the other, what are you? If you're, say, half Asian and half Western, where do you belong? Are you a banana: yellow on the outside and white inside? Or an egg: white on the outside and yellow inside? Or are you, as proclaimed by that most swirled of celebrities Tiger Woods, a "Cablinasian"
not really. it's more like nation states prefer citizens who actually speak the local language, and consider themselves wholly loyal to that nation, regardless of whatever other languages they speak or whatever other countries they have relatives in.

i meet plenty of mixed kids over here with a really crappy command of local language. mostly international school kids. complaining they're not accepted just based on their race. whatever, my cantonese still has the accent of another dialect to the extent that I'm obviously not a local, but I'm in HK right now and I make friends every day just by showing up to class and making small talk in Cantonese with whoever is next to me.

SunWuKong

09-05-2002, 11:13 AM

hey that's Maggie Q in the center of that picture! :)

a word about Karen Morris/Mok. people in HK knows that she's mixed (1/4th Welch) but i don't think they really consider her in a mixed identity, not the way that people immediately think of Maggie Q as mixed. for one thing, she doesn't really look mixed, and for another, she speaks perfect cantonese. people just think of her as chinese who happened to have a white grandfather. it's sort of how my grandmother and her siblings are considered - that they're chinese but they just happened to have a white grandmother.

by the way, Michelle Reis (1/4th Portuguese - part of the "Macanese" group of people in Macau) also uses another last name. Most people just know her as Michelle Lee (Lee Ga Yan). and like Karen Morris, she is also just considered chinese who happened to have a white ancestor.

when a mixed chinese person has the perfect chinese language ability, it's very easy for chinese society to consider him/her just chinese instead of mixed - pending on how "mixed" he looks, of course. on the other hand, michael wong keeps getting these roles in his movies as a foreigner or mixed person because his cantonese is not fluent.

Faithless

08-08-2003, 10:54 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SunWuKung @ Sep 5 2002, 10:13 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> when a mixed chinese person has the perfect chinese language ability, it's very easy for chinese society to consider him/her just chinese instead of mixed - pending on how "mixed" he looks, of course. [/b][/quote]
Oh, really. I would think that Chinese society would just consider this "sort-of" Chinese person to be really good with the language.

kimpossible

08-11-2003, 10:12 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ChottoMatte @ Aug 8 2003, 09:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Oh, really. I would think that Chinese society would just consider this "sort-of" Chinese person to be really good with the language. [/b][/quote]
All depends. Depends on how Asian in appearance the person is, how good looking he/she is according to Chinese standards and sometimes if they have an Asian name and which parent is the Chinese parent. If it's the right combo the mixed Chinese person gets a bit of celebrity status.

It seems to work differently in HK. I think I saw a lot of Chinese/Indian mixed people there. Their Cantonese is perfect because they've grown up in HK so they weren't looked at as foreigners as far as I know. Which is only valid until someone who knows better comes along and corrects me.

kimpossible

08-11-2003, 10:44 AM

Oh no, I was just a tourist in HK. I didn't stop and ask.

thaite

08-11-2003, 11:35 AM

Siamese? What is this, 1940?

AliBabaIncorporated

08-11-2003, 06:42 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (LL_Cool_D @ Aug 11 2003, 10:39 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Really? Do you know any because I think that if there are Chinese/Indian mixes then, most often than not, it's normally Indian males/Arab males that marry Chinese women. I don't think I've ever seen Chinese males with Indian women/Arabwomen. I think it's quite similar to WM/AF couples and AM/WF couples -- a big disparity. [/b][/quote]
Haven't noticed any unusual disparity in Malaysia, which has one of the world's larger populations of Chindians ...

BeTheReds

08-12-2003, 01:10 AM

Ask the fools at Eurasian nation why they feel that they have more in common with each other no matter what country they live in and what language they speak and feel that they have nothing in common with blasians and mulattos.

MellowDrama

08-14-2003, 03:17 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (AliBabaIncorporated @ Aug 11 2003, 07:42 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Haven't noticed any unusual disparity in Malaysia, which has one of the world's larger populations of Chindians ... [/b][/quote]
AliBaba, I think you alluded to this in an earlier post, but don't you think all this "WE ARE THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE" stuff is kind of ridiculous, considering SE Asia has been all "multicultural" for several centuries now?

kimpossible

08-15-2003, 09:24 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (MellowDrama @ Aug 14 2003, 02:17 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> AliBaba, I think you alluded to this in an earlier post, but don't you think all this "WE ARE THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE" stuff is kind of ridiculous, considering SE Asia has been all "multicultural" for several centuries now? [/b][/quote]
Well if he didn't that's a good point anyhow. I have no evidence to back this up but I think overall a lot of people regardless of geography or location really underestimate the amount of mixed race people in a given population. And when you see articles like this or even the one that Sun Wu-kung posted from Westeast mag Colours in the Middle, many of the people interviewed are models and such. This is what I would categorize as using mixed race people as the posterchildren of the internationalization. Then you get the weepy "I don't fit anywhere!" articles, then you get the depressing articles where the mixed offspring are part of a lower societal caste, like AmerAsian children as the result of US soldiers in a certain area.

Like this:

A) Good looking mixed children of well to do or famous parents = cosmopolitan Wave of Future

B) Average mixed kids who didn't live internationally = hapa angst

C) Mixed due to US military occupation = pariah

Obviously, this is extremely generalized and not representative of mixed race Asians either individually or as a whole, but rather the flavor of articles written about mixed race Asians.

kimpossible

08-15-2003, 10:26 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (professor frink @ Aug 15 2003, 09:12 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> here here.

love,
prof. frink

p.s. so why did i get so much backlash on my first post about hapas are stupid? jeez! [/b][/quote]
Can I be honest? Because you went apeshit without really addressing anything. As far as I'm concerned the matter is 6 ft under unless you want to reopen more than this. Your choice. I like brutal honesty, lots of cussing and minimal bullshit (which is why you're converting me to a frink fan) but freaking out is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

Ask and ye shall receive an answer.

kimpossible

08-15-2003, 01:15 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (professor frink @ Aug 15 2003, 10:40 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>love,
  prof. frink

p.s. do you mean a fan in the sense of simpson's frink? cuz hell he's mine![/b][/quote]
Oh no, baby - I MEAN YOU!!! You talk dirty and stuff. I like. I wouldn't take your man anyhow.

Yeah, direction would be like naming the articles or pointing out something stupid specifically and why. Saying "People X are stupid" across the board, especially when I am one of them is likely to get my middle finger itching. It's really moot whether or not you're one of them too. I wasn't inferring that media is to blame for anything but rather pointing out that the articles usually come in one of three flavors. You added in what you thought was my intent.

But I do want to say something in general about the whole negativity thing against the people who are into the best of both worlds ideology.

So what? So what if they are? I am not really into a hapa movement, hapa celebrities, hapa athletes, because I don't really get anything out of it. BUT, I realize that someone else might and it doesn't bother me. It seems like a few people out there who are loudly anti-hapa anything think that they own the identity lock, stock and barrel. What you have is AN identity, not THE identity.

Some of you want to identify as just Asian or something that has a specific meaning for you. Fine, knock yourselves out. I can't remember a single time that you've been chastised for it. Y'all don't even need to contribute anything that is hapa related such as a forum. But for chrissakes, leave the people alone who want, need or embrace it. What does it get you to tear down someone else's sandcastle? I joked with Hapacalypse on his first day about not having yet met BeTheReds or AliBaba because he was so upbeat. Despite the negativity he encountered he remained upbeat. Why bag on him in the firstplace? Do you not think that we got by now that you think it's stupid, doesn't exist and anyone embracing it should be flogged and thrown out? Hey, we got it.

I don't dig everything I hear on here. I don't like being called stupid, I don't like being called sickly green, I don't like hearing that we're the disease of Asian American community through thinning blood but guess what? It's a forum and opinions you don't like or agree with are going to be said. For the most part, if it's an actual opinion with a point and on topic I let it roll. Suppressing issues doesn't make them go away.

But it should't be a Sisyphean friggin task to come up with a post that has a point to accompany the bitching. Most times the point comes through with the complaint, but if it doesn't don't be surprised if I mod it.

In general, please try to cut the people who are into the best of both worlds idealogy some slack. I'm not concerned about the people who get themselves interviewed because I don't look to them define me. They have their own lives, they have their own opinions, live and let live. I don't have any more right to tell them who they are or should be and vice versa.

end rant

SunWuKong

08-16-2003, 02:00 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Hello_Hapa @ Aug 15 2003, 12:24 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> And when you see articles like this or even the one that Sun Wu-kung posted from Westeast mag Colours in the Middle, many of the people interviewed are models and such. This is what I would categorize as using mixed race people as the posterchildren of the internationalization. [/b][/quote]
actually HH, HKers just generally think that mixed (that is - Asian/white) people are good looking. :P they don't really think about stuff like internationalisation (well for one thing HK has always been pretty international already). sometimes when a really good non-mixed celebrity comes along, people even start questioning whether s/he's really actually mixed. they do this with Daniel Wu.

YuheiCarreau

08-16-2003, 08:49 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SunWuKung @ Aug 16 2003, 05:00 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> actually HH, HKers just generally think that mixed (that is - Asian/white) people are good looking. :P they don't really think about stuff like internationalisation (well for one thing HK has always been pretty international already). sometimes when a really good non-mixed celebrity comes along, people even start questioning whether s/he's really actually mixed. they do this with Daniel Wu. [/b][/quote]
I guess that's what you'd call a monoracial inferiority complex :lol:

SunWuKong

08-16-2003, 08:58 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (YuheiCarreau @ Aug 16 2003, 11:49 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I guess that's what you'd call a monoracial inferiority complex :lol: [/b][/quote]
nah, it's just the HK inferiority complex. it must be the only place where they discriminate against its own people over foreigners. well, Westerners anyway.

Napoleon Chynamite

08-20-2003, 05:25 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SunWuKung @ Aug 16 2003, 07:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> nah, it's just the HK inferiority complex. it must be the only place where they discriminate against its own people over foreigners. well, Westerners anyway. [/b][/quote]
Since you're the HongKong expert around here, didn't you say that most girls in HK don't regard Western features as very attractive? Anyways I dunno...most HK girls to me look really frail and nerdy (with the exception of a few), at least, that was what I perceived when I traveled there like....6 years ago.

Chester

08-20-2003, 06:15 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Hello_Hapa @ Aug 15 2003, 01:15 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I don't have any more right to tell them who they are or should be and vice versa.

end rant [/b][/quote]
Hallelujah, amen. Sing it.

Chester

08-20-2003, 06:17 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SunWuKung @ Aug 16 2003, 08:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> nah, it's just the HK inferiority complex. it must be the only place where they discriminate against its own people over foreigners. well, Westerners anyway. [/b][/quote]
Mainland China is also very much the same way. Probably far more so since the "elite" of HK do such a good job of aping their non-HK counterparts.

When I was leaving HK on this last trip, I picked up a copy of Hong Kong Tatler in the airport. God, what a great compendium of inadvertent humor.

Chester

08-20-2003, 06:21 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Gumby @ Aug 20 2003, 05:25 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Since you're the HongKong expert around here, didn't you say that most girls in HK don't regard Western features as very attractive? Anyways I dunno...most HK girls to me look really frail and nerdy (with the exception of a few), at least, that was what I perceived when I traveled there like....6 years ago. [/b][/quote]
Now, this is subjective and is highly influenced by Western ideals and so on and so forth, but Hong Kong women are way down the totem pole in terms of looks. I don't know if it's a Cantonese thing or what, but...ugh. For the most part, the good-looking ones are the Overseas girls.

My personal theory is that the environment is conducive to ass-ness. The inverse of the rule that sees places like Santa Barbara teeming with silly-hot women, as if there were a factory pumping them out.

Then again, that doesn't really explain why the women of Liaoning are so smoking-hot.

So maybe it's a Cantonese thing...which accounts for half of my genetic makeup, by the way, so, no, I don't think I'm any better.

Napoleon Chynamite

08-21-2003, 04:25 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Chester @ Aug 20 2003, 05:21 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Now, this is subjective and is highly influenced by Western ideals and so on and so forth, but Hong Kong women are way down the totem pole in terms of looks. I don't know if it's a Cantonese thing or what, but...ugh. For the most part, the good-looking ones are the Overseas girls.

My personal theory is that the environment is conducive to ass-ness. The inverse of the rule that sees places like Santa Barbara teeming with silly-hot women, as if there were a factory pumping them out.

Then again, that doesn't really explain why the women of Liaoning are so smoking-hot.

So maybe it's a Cantonese thing...which accounts for half of my genetic makeup, by the way, so, no, I don't think I'm any better. [/b][/quote]
I dunno, the Cantonese American female friends I have (not from HK) are pretty darn hot to me, but nevertheless personally I have always preferred Asian women who kinda look more northern'esque (for lack of better term), like smaller eyes and bigger noses and bigger boned even though when I grew up this was not how I thought.

But yeah, I dunno if it's the water there or what...I think even the girls in the villages or countryside around HK are prettier, but then again, I have had limited interaction and experience with those women (or HK women).

yoMAMA

08-21-2003, 04:59 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SunWuKung @ Aug 16 2003, 01:00 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> actually HH, HKers just generally think that mixed (that is - Asian/white) people are good looking. :P they don't really think about stuff like internationalisation (well for one thing HK has always been pretty international already). sometimes when a really good non-mixed celebrity comes along, people even start questioning whether s/he's really actually mixed. they do this with Daniel Wu. [/b][/quote]
No doubt, they only approve asian/white offsprings.

If 'god forbids', a chinese/black combination, all hell breaks lose.

I remember a hk student back in high school that told me 'all blacks have AIDS'.

yoMAMA

08-21-2003, 05:04 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Chester @ Aug 20 2003, 05:21 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Now, this is subjective and is highly influenced by Western ideals and so on and so forth, but Hong Kong women are way down the totem pole in terms of looks. I don't know if it's a Cantonese thing or what, but...ugh. For the most part, the good-looking ones are the Overseas girls.

My personal theory is that the environment is conducive to ass-ness. The inverse of the rule that sees places like Santa Barbara teeming with silly-hot women, as if there were a factory pumping them out.

Then again, that doesn't really explain why the women of Liaoning are so smoking-hot.

[/b][/quote]
Yeah, Cantonese girls rank pretty much at the bottom in terms of looks in China.

IMHO most of the hot girls are in Beijing..... :P

But I have never been to Suhang (Suzhou and Hangzhou), nor Shanghai, so this is highly questionable... :P

ChinaLama

08-21-2003, 05:07 PM

korean girls are pretty hot, too. did they get pillaged by northern chinese anytime?

yoMAMA

08-21-2003, 05:20 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ChinaLama @ Aug 21 2003, 04:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> korean girls are pretty hot, too. did they get pillaged by northern chinese anytime? [/b][/quote]
They did, during the Sui and Tang dynasties.

China once send 1 million troops to conquer Korea, and you'd figure some soliders must be lonely and needs a little boost :P

yoMAMA

08-21-2003, 05:21 PM

And for your information,

The Koreans kicked our ass!

Napoleon Chynamite

08-21-2003, 05:46 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (yoMAMA @ Aug 21 2003, 04:04 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Yeah, Cantonese girls rank pretty much at the bottom in terms of looks in China. [/b][/quote]
Generalizing much, perhaps? :rolleyes:

hå†êléss

08-22-2003, 01:31 PM

I could give less a damn about where I fit in culturally speaking because Culture doesn't define me, and that makes me stronger as a individual. One thing that being mixed shows you is how segragated the world still is. The reason culture defines some is fear and comfort. You feel less threatened when amongst those who you share a commonality with (physicality, mentality, etc) and anything outside that perceived zone of comfort is deemed and regarded with an air of suspicion, potential threat, hostility, negativity. It's the human way. I'm not speaking out of my ass just experience.

coagulated fat

08-22-2003, 02:11 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (hå†êléss @ Aug 22 2003, 12:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I could give less a damn about where I fit in culturally speaking because Culture doesn't define me, and that makes me stronger as a individual. One thing that being mixed shows you is how segragated the world still is. The reason culture defines some is fear and comfort. You feel less threatened when amongst those who you share a commonality with (physicality, mentality, etc) and anything outside that perceived zone of comfort is deemed and regarded with an air of suspicion, potential threat, hostility, negativity. It's the human way. I'm not speaking out of my ass just experience. [/b][/quote]
Well put.  But I don't think it's possible to completely distance oneself from culture to look at things from an objective light as much as you seem to think it is.

hå†êléss

08-22-2003, 02:41 PM

If its not, then I've done the impossible already.

BeTheReds

08-22-2003, 09:30 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (hå†êléss @ Aug 23 2003, 05:31 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I could give less a damn about where I fit in culturally speaking because Culture doesn't define me, and that makes me stronger as a individual. [/b][/quote]
How American of you!   :lol:

hå†êléss

08-22-2003, 09:39 PM

Was I suppose to decipher the meaning in that statement cos I didn't quite understand what it meant.

BeTheReds

08-22-2003, 09:54 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (hå†êléss @ Aug 23 2003, 01:39 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Was I suppose to decipher the meaning in that statement cos I didn't quite understand what it meant. [/b][/quote]
Well I was kinda joking, but that statement strikes me as very American, thus defining you culturally.  Kinda ironic.  Anyway I like you so don't take it as me trying to cross you ok?

hå†êléss

08-22-2003, 10:29 PM

I am an American, but, how do you define a culture that is a blend of all the cultures of the world? :)
And I wasn't getting mad just wondering what ya meant.
However, though I am American, I don't perceive myself culturally being the norm. Allot of American's are self absorbed, culturally and internationally ignorant, arrogant, lazy, unread, selfish, mathmatically illiterate, linguistically challenged.
Note I said allot, not all.
What I meant to convey in my initial post is that none of my culture(s) defines me as a person. Especially American society which I tend to loath.

BeTheReds

08-22-2003, 10:36 PM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (hå†êléss @ Aug 23 2003, 02:29 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
What I meant to convey in my initial post is that none of my culture(s) defines me as a person. [/b][/quote]
Others would argue that that is the definition of culture.

hå†êléss

08-22-2003, 11:53 PM

Yeah, they could.
A set of traditions, customs, attitudes, ideals, language, behavioral patterns, education, and other such idosyncracies.
These could define a person, or a person can selectivley pick what they find useful, applicable, appealing.
But to say culture defines a person absolutley is wrong. I feel it's how you perceive yourself as being, and being that person, is what does. And that transcends culture. 

coagulated fat

08-23-2003, 12:09 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (hå†êléss @ Aug 22 2003, 10:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Yeah, they could.
A set of traditions, customs, attitudes, ideals, language, behavioral patterns, education, and other such idosyncracies.
These could define a person, or a person can selectivley pick what they find useful, applicable, appealing.
But to say culture defines a person absolutley is wrong. I feel it's how you perceive yourself as being, and being that person, is what does. And that transcends culture. [/b][/quote]
How can you selectively pick attitudes of different cultures, assuming you didn't start off as a blank slate disconnected from any kinds of culture?  Everything is wrapped up in culture.  That doesn't mean culture defines you, it means that who you are and the culture in which you grew up are inseparable.  If you've done the impossible by eliminating relativism, we should all be worshipping you as a god or something.

ChinaLama

08-23-2003, 05:21 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (coagulated fat @ Aug 23 2003, 07:09 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> If you've done the impossible by eliminating relativism, we should all be worshipping you as a god or something. [/b][/quote]
maybe that's what he(she?) was getting at.

BeTheReds

08-23-2003, 07:16 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ChinaLama @ Aug 23 2003, 09:21 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> maybe that's what he(she?) was getting at. [/b][/quote]
But everyone is SUPPOSED to be worshiping me, remember?

HAHA j/k

BeTheReds

08-23-2003, 07:24 AM

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (hå†êléss @ Aug 23 2003, 03:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Yeah, they could.
A set of traditions, customs, attitudes, ideals, language, behavioral patterns, education, and other such idosyncracies.
These could define a person, or a person can selectivley pick what they find useful, applicable, appealing.
But to say culture defines a person absolutley is wrong. I feel it's how you perceive yourself as being, and being that person, is what does. And that transcends culture. [/b][/quote]
This is a good discussion.

But no, I don't think that that trancends culture.  You may be picking and choosing what you like from cultures you know about, but you have to admit, there are some places in the world where you will feel more at home than others.  If you use me as an example, I'd feel most at home in Maryland, Japan (even tho I am not Japanese), or Korea.  I'd be totally lost in France, Germany, Zimbabwe, or Israel in comparison.

How I percieve myself has no effect on my ability to function as an adult in different societies, and culture has every effect on that.

hå†êléss

08-23-2003, 12:08 PM

I never denied not feeling at home in my own hometown, which is Chicago.
But I seriously deny what 'Coagalated fat' says that 'you and your culture are inseperable'. You can very much become sickened and distance yourself from your own culture with ease. And ANY other culture for that matter. I see what your saying though reds, I think your perspective your perceiving culture to be a tool to fit in and adapt in differing societies. That is true. Yet I was just trying to say that it isn't the definitive force for shaping and molding your persona. That's my view. Not asking for agreeance or disagreeance, it's just my take.

coagulated fat

08-23-2003, 06:07 PM

But I seriously deny what 'Coagalated fat' says that 'you and your culture are inseperable'. You can very much become sickened and distance yourself from your own culture with ease. And ANY other culture for that matter. You might be able to distance yourself from traditions, but I think it would be more difficult to separate out the values and the ways of thinking you have learned from your culture or society, since you are a product of that culture or society.  I guess it depends on what your definition of culture is.

hå†êléss

08-23-2003, 08:11 PM

SunWuKong

08-23-2003, 10:05 PM

You feel less threatened when amongst those who you share a commonality with (physicality, mentality, etc) and anything outside that perceived zone of comfort is deemed and regarded with an air of suspicion, potential threat, hostility, negativity. It's the human way. I'm not speaking out of my ass just experience. err...what if you just like being around those you are culturally similar with? i don't exactly fear or suspect non-Chinese people...

SunWuKong

08-23-2003, 10:10 PM

There's no 'might', you can. And not everyone IS a product of their society or culture, unless they allow themselves to be. That's why there's the follower's in life, and those who follow their own set of rules and live life according to their own terms and conditions. Being Korean/white, I don't side with either or. I don't favor one or the other. I don't feel the urge to hang with Koreans, or Scot's either. It's not essential to me.that's good that you don't feel the urge to hang out with Koreans or Scots, but what if i don't feel the urge to hang out with non-Chinese people simply beacause they're NOT Chinese, and that it's not essential to me?* does that make me a follower?*