Homework #10: Cultural Assignment 1

One thing that I see that exemplifies American culture, almost in a bad way, is our constant consumption of fast food.  On almost every block in any populated area there is some sort of fast food restaurant.  It may be a Wendy’s or a McDonald’s or even a Taco Bell and they are everywhere.  It seems that it is more common for American families to go pick up food from McDonald’s than it is for them to sit down and have a traditional family-style dinner.  A lot of the time it is the only option.  Many parents are working more than the typical 9 to 5 work day to keep up with the bills and things so there is not always time to cook.  You can be in and out of a fast food restaurant in less than a half hour which is convenient when you need to grab a quick meal before either heading back to work or taking your kids to extra-curricular activities.  This may explain why we are one of the fattest nations in the world but it often times cannot be helped.

My friends and I are pretty big into skateboarding which almost has its own culture entirely.  You can almost always tell if someone skates just from the clothes they wear and the brands they support.  It’s kind of hard to explain but for some reason you can just tell.  Their shoes are usually ripped up and they often wear brands like Lakai or Globe.  Most people don’t buy shoes like this unless they skate.  The shoes are designed to take a beating and have a lot of grip to them.  You can also tell just by the way the shoes are laced.  Many people who skate don’t tie their shoes very tight because it’s just more comfortable to skate that way.  There are people who just buy skate shoes because they like the style or because they are comfortable but these people are usually fairly easy to pick out in a crowd.

The main thing, in my opinion, that displays individuality is the way people dress.  I am pretty particular about the things I wear.  I wear the Vans Authentics and have for quite awhile.  When I first started wearing them a very few number of people in my high school wore them.  It was really only me and my friend and it was cool.  I liked wearing shoes that no one else really had or knew about at that time.  After a couple months everybody started to wear them which kind of sucked.  It was cool feeling like a trend setter but it was unfortunate that my individuality was just lessened by the fact that everyone started to wear them.  I still wear them and I love them because they’re super comfortable and they’re cheap too.  I can get a pair of Authentics for like $42 and they last for a long time.  When you have them for awhile they start to get faded and torn up but I like it, it gives them some character.  Another thing that I like to wear is skinny jeans.  I don’t wear the super tight ones, they’re way too tight, but I like Gravel Slims which are made my Bullhead.  Those are really the only jeans I wear.  They’re really comfortable and I like the washes they have to pick from.  I’m almost as bad as a lot of girls when it comes to clothes.  I’m very particular about what I wear.  I almost always have to match my shirt to my shoes and if i have a dark shirt on I wear dark jeans but white shirts I wear lighter jeans.  It’s kind of ridiculous but I think it makes me an individual.  I don’t really conform to other styles I blaze my own trail and wear what I like.  I don’t like American Eagle or Aeropostale at all really.  That stuff is too pop culture for me.  Hollister is really the only store like that that I will buy clothes from and all I have from there is a couple pairs of shorts and a flannel shirt.  I have no interest in dressing like everyone else.  I like to be my own person and what better way to do that than to wear clothes that I like rather than stuff I’m not super fond of but everyone else is wearing.

Homework #9: Individualism as a Culture Value

1.  A. Personal Life

Many things that go on in a person’s personal life may be tender topics that this person does not want to share with someone else.  Some things just need to be kept private and the person may not want to divulge the details to someone else for fear of this person possibly telling other people as well.  There are just certain things that should be left untold or unsaid.

B. Income

Many people may be embarrassed by the amount of money they make or may not want to appear to be bragging about it.  To avoid the topic all together I think people just consider it an inappropriate topic of conversation.  This way no one feels uncomfortable and nobody can be accused of bragging.

C. Divorce

This is often a very tender topic in which, in many cases, the details of why or how may be painful to discuss.  To avoid causing anyone discomfort or bringing up old traumatic memories, the topic is often avoided.  It would be hard enough to talk to a close friend about something like this, let alone a stranger.

2.  In Thailand when a grandparent grows too old they move into the house with their children and grandchildren who then take turns caring for that grandparent.  The grandparents are respected for the care they took of their family in their younger days.  In America we are respected more for what we do occupationally than anything.  Wealthier people are more respected than middle class people and movie, music, television stars are regarded more than almost anyone.  The more I think about it, it’s almost weird to think that some people respect television icons more than their own family.  Because our social status is decided by our wealth and talent, many parents push their kids into activities and sports at a young age in hopes of their child becoming successful one day.

3.  This isn’t really directed related to me, but reading this article made me think how weird it is that we often worship people who are good at sports.  Take Babe Ruth for example.  Almost EVERYBODY knows who Babe Ruth is and when you think about it it’s kind of ridiculous.  He became famous by hitting a ball over a fence a whole bunch of times.  Don’t get me wrong, I played baseball for many years and I think his records are really impressive, but compared to what people in other countries get recognized for, baseball really shouldn’t be as big of a deal as it is.

Homework #8: Introduction to American Life

1.  One thing that would be kind of surprising to a foreign student would be that America is not really completely full of beautiful people as movies project.  You never see average looking people in movies and, when you do, they are usually playing small roles or the role of a nerd or something.  Beautiful people rule the big screen which may skew a foreigners thoughts about America.  We are one of the fattest nations in the world which makes the casting of beautiful people a huge irony.  It is easy to understand why directors do this though.  Nobody wants to watch morbidly obese Americans fight crime while holding a burger from McDonald’s.

Another thing an exchange student might find different is that girls don’t really travel in those snotty stuck-up packs with their noses in the air like many movies show.  There are some that do it but not to that extent.  Cliques aren’t as extreme here as many people probably think.  I think directors probably make this over-exaggeration to make it clear who the rich popular girls are in the movie.

2.  The pamphlet describes time as a “commodity”.  It says that we view it as something we can save or make like money.  I’ve never really thought about this before.  I haven’t been to too many other countries so I don’t know much about how other people view time, but I do know that a lot of people in America run very tight schedules.  The “9 to 5″ work day really doesn’t exist anymore.  Our economy is in such a slump that many people are working over 40 hours a week and sometimes multiple jobs just to pay rent and keep food on the table.  With all this working it is hard to find time to do anything else.  When something else comes up that must get during the week we just feel as though there are not enough hours in the week to complete all these tasks.  We can’t be late to anything either because if you’re late to work too many times you can get fired and may end up having to find ANOTHER job to make keep up with the bills.  I’m not really sure how accurate this answer was, but seeing as this was the first time I’ve ever really thought about our concept of time, this is what came to mind.

3.  The pamphlet states that interruptions are frowned upon due to the strict, rigid and precise agenda most people uphold.  Depending on the situation, interruptions are often unacceptable.  During class and sports practices you need to be focused and on-topic the entire time because of the allotted amount of time you have to be in class or at practice.  Class doesn’t run from whenever you feel like getting there to whenever you get bored and want to leave.  Teachers have a set number of subjects they want to cover in a relatively short amount of time and can’t afford to be slowed down by a distraction or interruption.  The same can be said about sports coaches.  They have an allotted amount of time to practice and need to cover a certain amount of plays and strategies before a game on a certain date.  My lacrosse coach would never put up with interruptions or distractions.  If you interrupted him or distracted him or anyone else in any way you ended up running sprints or laps or pretty much just running in general.  Unless you had something important to add or ask about that was relevant to the current topic at the moment you kept your mouth shut.  The lives of many Americans evolves around time and many people don’t have enough time to be interrupted.

4.  ”In the United States, it is extremely important to extend the same courtesies and respect to all individuals…”

This sentence caught my attention and made me wonder if this might be an issue to some exchange students.  As we grow up, most of us are taught the rule of equality or may even just learn it by example.  There may be some countries where it is second nature for the people living there to look down on a certain type of person for some reason or another.  At the same time, the more I think about it, this is almost a hypocritical statement.  Telling foreigners to respect everyone when many of us can’t even respect our fellow countrymen?  That sentence is chalk full of irony.  Americans are some of the worst offenders when it comes to stereotyping and creating racial tension among each other.  We should learn to follow that policy before trying to enforce it upon other people visiting our country.

Homework #6: Globalization of Eating Disorders and Macho Men

Eating Disorders

1.  I think I kind of developed my own views of body image.  I don’t expect guys and women to look a certain way.  It seems to me that in this day and age a lot of guys have really high expectations for the kinds of girls that they are looking for.  Same for girls and the guys they look for.  I’m not trying to say that image isn’t important because if you aren’t at least a little physically attracted to a person you probably won’t become emotional attracted to them either.  I’m just saying that looks should after personality in order of importance.

2.  In American culture, the bar is set way up and out of reach. The biggest example that comes to my mind would be movies.  They get all the best looking men and women to play the major roles.  The men always have the same general look to them.  They have 36 abs and biceps bigger than a normal man’s head.  The women all look like models and are about as big around as a #2 pencil.  People watch these movies and they think, “Wow, I want to be like her, she’s really pretty.”  The guys in these movies always get the super pretty #2 pencil girls so the guys think that if they look like that they will also get those same girls.  It’s a huge, vicious, messed up cycle.

Macho Men

1.  Trucks – they are always showed in commercials with hard working hands-on workers throwing heavy toolboxes and steel and things in them.  Either that or they are always covered in mud.  Both of these images are more associated with men.

Muscles – television and movies always display men with abs that start at their knees and go to their chins or something ridiculous as if that’s a normal thing and the women in these shows are always staring longingly at them.  It way overemphasizes their importance.

Guns – when children are young, girls are given Barbie’s and makeup and other things like that while boys are given fake guns and swords.  If a boy were to be given a doll it would be G.I. Joe or something like that which also comes with little guns that you put in G.I. Joe’s hand.

2.  For one thing guys are forced to be as masculine as possible because if they are not they may be called “gay” even if they are not.  This is definitely harmful, but mostly to homosexuals.  It shouldn’t matter whether a guy is gay or straight.  They should be treated the same.  I have 2 friends who are gay and they are some of the coolest people to hangout with.  This stigma that being “gay” is bad and guys should be manly to avoid being placed under that label is ridiculous and shameful to be honest.

Another way that guys are forced to act masculine is when alcohol is involved.  It is expected for guys to be able to put away mass amounts of alcohol.  If a guy has a very low alcohol tolerance he may only be able to drink as much a girl before feeling drunk (not to say that no women can put away their alcohol but it’s scientifically shown that they have a lower tolerance than most men).  In this case the guy would not want to be made fun of for being such a “light weight” so he would attempt to keep up with his friends.  In this case this is also a very harmful thing because if the guy were to push himself to keep drinking he could be at great risk for serious health problems or even death due to alcohol poisoning.

Homework #3: Moral Machines

 

1.  In our lifetimes I don’t think we’ll see a catastrophe like this but if we do it will probably be towards the end of our generation.  Technology is coming a long way in a short amount of time but not THAT short of an amount of time.  I would think that it may be quite a while until we have technology capable of the same thought process we humans are capable of.  If we were to see this age of technology and a disaster like this were to occur I think the majority of the population would want to see the development of these “robots” put to an end for fear of another such tragedy.  I think that the scientists of this time would be the ones to say, “No let us try again, we can fix it!”

2.  I think it may be quite some time before robots are created that can think JUST like a human being and won’t depend on us because we first need to make sure that robots that DO depend on us are actually capable of doing everything we expect them to without anything going wrong.  When this finally does happen though I think we will see the fattest and laziest generation of people in the history of the world.  Nobody will have to get up to do anything anymore, they’ll have a robot in their house to do it for them.  Where is the motivation to get up and go do something productive when you could have your robot go do it for you?

3.  Positives:  Cheap labor

Can be programmed to do anything perfectly every single time

Could keep people safer

Negatives:  Could become too smart for their own good

Pricey to make

Not as “personal” as a real human being

4.  A couple years ago before I had a laptop I had an older desktop computer.  It worked for what I used it for but it wasn’t the best by a long shot.  I loaded up the computer with music to the point where it didn’t even have enough memory to boot up when I turned it on.  It didn’t have very much memory so that was a big problem.  Another time I ended up getting a virus and my mom ended up having to rebuild my whole computer because the virus trashed everything.

Homework #2: Morality

1.  The question asked at the beginning of the article really made me think.  It was a very difficult question to answer considering that the people to choose between were all different types of people from very different backgrounds.  At first I went with Mother Teresa as most admirable but after reading the facts given by the author it became a close call between her and Norman Borlaug.  To me, the most important contributions to society are the ones that help people in need.  Although Bill Gates made some important contributions to the field of technology, the work of Mother Teresa and Norman Borlaug helped out way more people.

2.  One person I see as admirable would be J.K. Rowling.  When she wrote the first Harry Potter book she was living out of her car.  She made a huge contribution to literature and it’s just amazing to think that even living out of her car with no money she published one of the best selling books of all time.  That’s inspirational and easy to admire.  Another person who is easy to admire would be Lance Armstrong.  He had cancer and fought it and won and after getting better he came back to cycling and won the Tour de France.  He beat the odds and never gave up.  Judging by the people I chose as admirable, my morals are definitely based around the well-being of people in general.  I admire people who beat the odds and make a comeback and never give up.

3.  I don’t believe that morality is universal.  Everybody in the world has different morals and your morals are defined as you grow up.  They come from the things we are taught by our families and close friends as we are growing up.  Not everybody in the world has the same family and friends, therefore not everybody can have the same morals.

4.  Harm, fairness, community, authority and purity.  In my opinion Americans tend to rank authority as number one.  Every four years we vote for a new leader of our nation.  In every state there is a governor, or head of that state.  In every school there is a principal.  In every household there are parents or guardians whose job it is to keep their kids on the straight and narrow.  Everything in our lives has a leader whether we realize it or not.  Without authority figures we as Americans wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves.