This happens to me a lot. People call me mexican because they think that Cuban is the same thing... I try to tell them, "no, I'm cuban & there is a difference." Also, I get you speak cuban & I have to tell them that in Cuba they do speak spanish. These type of things seem so simple to me, but when I think about it it's like well they don't understand because they have never been around people who are cuban or from a different place.
Because we are a culture that likes to assume things we group people without really knowing the facts. We have never been shown a different culture so to us it is weird. Like in India they do not touch their food with their left hands because the left hand is "dirty".. to us this seems outrageous, but that is because we weren't taught that. To them it seems normal because well, it is.
What is really normal? Is there such a thing?
I guess there is a normal, but that's really macrosociology. The statistical middle of any given data. A lot of people undergo culture shock when they're introduced to a new culture. It happened to me when I visited Europe. Even the food they eat. I've come to the conclusion that the reason Europeans stay skinny is that they walk everywhere, eat only bread, and smoke like there's no tomorrow. It was amazing, as it's the complete opposite here in the US.
ReplyDeletehaha i have the same problem I tell people I am Japanese and they think all Asians are the same
ReplyDeleteTo me there is no such thing as normal, because well what's normal to me might not be normal to someone else. It just depends where you are and who you are with I guess.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Christina, great example.
ReplyDelete