A question of culture

by Adam 15 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  little witch

  I wont say someone was right, someone was wrong, because I think there was only a misunderstanding.

  America is a "melting pot", well, more like a tossed salad. The red white and blue motiff, was her nationality, not her culture.

  For example: I am an american. But my ancestors, are Scot-Irish. So some examples of my culture would be, Kilts, Carmichael Clan Crest, lamb stew, and guiness beer (well that wouldnt be appropriate for that age) lol.

  Your Granddaughter might have done, Kiwanzaa dishes and dress, as well as what ever "white" means. Irish, German, Italian, etc.

  Of course we are all American in America, we assimilate. What the teacher was trying to get across is, "culture". A unique part of the whole. I am quite certain she or he was trying to get across a very important american ideal, that we are all different, but have alot in common.

  GO TEACHERS!!!
• 

  Shutterbug

  Right now he's in the bathtub singing a Britney Spears song for crying out loud...LOL!

  OMG Aztec, American culture has already ruined the poor kid !!

  So some examples of my culture would be, Kilts, Carmichael Clan Crest, lamb stew, and guiness beer (well that wouldnt be appropriate for that age)

  Exactly !! To say the kid has no culture is unbelivable !!All of our Ancestors came from somewhere other than the US. My kids are a mixture of British Isles, Germany, Mexico, France, American Indian and God knows what else. But to say they have no culture is, at best insulting. They are Americans as others have pointed out.
• 

  Badger

  Since I teach at a school that is 90% Hispanic, I get an up front feel for the culture as they seldom show other groups.

  Truth is? It reminds me of the Irish in the mid 1800's. Wierd Catholic faith. Large, close families. Broken English, Hot temper, taking "our jobs" (that, funny, no one else wants to do). These are the mindsets and preconceptions that they run in to.

  I think it'll end the same way for them, too. They'll be almost completely absorbed into the American culture that has already borrowed heavily from the Germans, Anglo, Italian, African and Jewish populations that came here.

  As for the Cultural Food Day? Take a Philly Cheese Steak. Uniquely Yankee, and everyone loves 'em.
• 

  Vita Nuova

  "All of our Ancestors came from somewhere other than the US."

  That’s right our ancestors. How does the culture of our ancestors affect the culture of someone five generations removed from those cultures? That of which you are thinking is ethnicity. Ethnicity is not culture. Culture is an ever-developing growing experience of the individual, not his/her ancestors. American with a capital A qualifies unreservedly as a cultural experience, of which someone who was born and raised in its particular traditions, customs, and values is categorically American. American is not just a nationality, which is a title that refers solely to a legal identity, but most certainly a culture. If a person has brought with him a personal cultural experience as being inculcated within another country, then of course he is more than just American. But to consider one as having a culture of anything based on nothing more than bloodline is plainly absurd. A multi-ethnic society is one thing America champions, true. But the multi-culturalism that is being pushed by all you hesitant Americans will be the end of this uniquely beautiful nation.

  Oh, by the way… Kwanza is a fabricated “holiday” created in 1966 by a California State University professor. Hardly a viable cultural tradition in my opinion.

  Vita Nuova
• 

  Adam

  Of course we are all American in America, we assimilate.

  I?m terribly sorry, but I think you need to look up that word before you use it again. Here, let me clue you in.

  Assimilating 2 a: to make similar b: to alter by assimilation c: to absorb into the culture or mores of a population or group
  
  As America has grown and developed, immigrants have been absorbed into the culture and mores of the existing population, contributing what they can to it. The multiculturalism movement that is gaining momentum today promotes the opposite of that.
  
  Multiculturalism: of, relating to, reflecting, or adapted to diverse cultures
  
  What multiculturalism promotes is the practice of changing American culture to reflect the practices and beliefs of foreign nations and peoples. It champions the adapting and changing of our own proud traditions and ways of life to suit any and every group of people who come to this country for the purpose of partaking in it?s benefits, without appreciating it enough to conform in the least to the American culture that made those very benefits possible. They are not made similar, they do not absorb the culture or mores of the group. Assimilation, my friend, is on the downslide.

  What the teacher was trying to get across is, "culture".

  Fine. America has a culture. Why couldn?t some kids get American culture across? Are you saying that America doesn?t have its own culture? That American culture is worth less than other cultures or for some other reason isn?t worthy of representation in a lesson which focuses on culture? I would take issue with any of those statements.

  To say the kid has no culture is unbelivable !!

  The kid does have a culture. Its called American culture.

  All of our Ancestors came from somewhere other than the US.

  Yes. And all humans are supposed to have come from northern Africa. So whenever there?s a culture day anywhere in the world, the Japanese can?t wear conical hats, the Arabs can?t wear turbans, the East Europeans can?t wear them fuzzy things they like so much, and Americans can?t wear baseball caps. Everyone has to come to class naked. Right? How far back you wanna go? Who gives a damn if the kid?s great great great great great great great great great great grandfather happened to be born somewhere else? The Romans were in the UK for a time, does that mean that on culture day in London, everyone has to eat pizza? The Normans and the Saxons fought for control of England and when the war was over, the victor, who was the invading party, didn?t say that, ?cause we weren?t here first, we can?t have a culture of our own.?

  The kid is American. Jean shorts and a t-shirt are American (though note I did not use the word ?exclusively?). Burgers and fries are American. That is her culture.
• 

  Jimmer

  Touche' Vita Nuova!!!