A Musing on Cultural Division Within the US

It still astounds me, even in our world-community day and age, how different cultures can be.

It doesn't outrage me. It just intrigues me. It makes me wonder, and, in a way, it sort of makes me happy . . . that people still retain their cultures in the face of a growingly homogenous world.

Particularly here in the US, where there's so many ethnic or immigrant groups-- that are actually allowed to function wholly. Yet there's even different cultures within the so-called "WASP" community . . . I found some site last night (I was looking for trouble, looking for anti-Harry Potter sites ^_^) that was all about "Christian Parenting." It talked about bringing up kids, when and how to introduce them to God, when and how to introduce them to sex, and then had a million articles about how spanking is the ONLY way to discipline your child (ie "Why the Rod is Righteous and Should Be Used by All Parents!") and that it's the only one way God endorses.

Last time I checked, you could be a Christian parent and bring your kid ups to be perfectly normal and religious without spanking them, but maybe there's a lot I don't know. I don't really have a stance on that . . . at least not yet . . .

(Just one question . . . isn't "the rod" just a symbolic term for "discipline?" Obviously, you can't bring up a child without disciplining him or her . . . but that doesn't necessarily mean always reaching for a paddle, belt, or long stick . . . )

It's that Fundamentalism factor again. Nevermind that the actual Bible was written in Hebrew and had all sorts of chapters winnowed out again; nevermind that Jesus's divinity was decided on a vote by a bunch of random Roman men a century after he lived: The Bible is infallible.

It's another culture; it really is. There are people who believe the US is a Christian nation; there are people who don't. There are people who would willingly go to jail on counts of child abuse as a martyr for spanking their child (they actually recommended on that site . . . ), and there are people who find even the most leniant spanking utterly offensive. People are pro-abortion or pro-choice; pro-war or anti-war; pro-death penalty or anti-death penalty. The media talks sometimes about the "Catholic Hispanic base" and "Black Evangelical base" and how they plays in to the Rebublican side, but an awful, awful lot of the word-war seems to be between WASPs.

This division between Red and Blue based almost entirely on moral issues . . . it's a cultural divide. It's not about how the country spends money anymore, or how much privacy people get: It's about our culture.

A couple of times I've actually wondered if perhaps the South should have broken away. I don't agree with slavery, HEAVENS no, but the Civil War was a nationalistic war. I almost always agree with ethnic, religious, or regional groups that want to assert autonomy. The South was doing that; they had a lifestyle and a culture and the North was trying to suppress it. Objectively, they had every right. Morally, perhaps not-- but who's to decide morals? Me? God?

I think that God likes to laugh as he tells everyone to do something different; that everyone's different way of following is the way. He laughs particularly hard when someone believes their way is the ONE way.

I think there's an element of the old Greek gods in him. He likes to cause drama . . . and just laugh . . .

. . . or maybe we're supposed to learn from it?

Though the South breaking away wouldn't solve the division in the US now. Maybe SOME of my fellow Indianian compatriots think they're part of the South (and that it ought to break away; ahh, I love the editorial section . . . ), but there are plenty of people in the North with this same Bible-Belt sort of culture. It's not possible to simply have a nationalistic war and become two separate nations; we've marble cake-ified.

I really do enjoy reading things that piss me off . . . they give me energy, for some reason.

Speaking of which, someone wrote into the Truth about that review. I think I am still going to send mine in; this one focused mostly on the YHO being good, and how she was undermining efforts to save the Elco. As a YHO member, I didn't brag; instead, I wrote about the Symphony and their effects on the music programs in Elkhart.

Woot, I got some inspiration for my book! I also have some for my last ode in Creative Writing; my other two were sarcastic, so I thought I'd do one that was actually nice, and now I have one.

What does "woot" mean? Darren told me it meant something bad.

Then again, that's Darren. He also tells me pretty regularly that I'm a Communist and, in second grade, that I would grow up to be a bus driver who would crash into a building. His dad also writes the most inflammatory editorials I have ever seen.

A Musing on Cultural Division Within the US

It still astounds me, even in our world-community day and age, how different cultures can be.

It doesn't outrage me. It just intrigues me. It makes me wonder, and, in a way, it sort of makes me happy . . . that people still retain their cultures in the face of a growingly homogenous world.

Particularly here in the US, where there's so many ethnic or immigrant groups-- that are actually allowed to function wholly. Yet there's even different cultures within the so-called "WASP" community . . . I found some site last night (I was looking for trouble, looking for anti-Harry Potter sites ^_^) that was all about "Christian Parenting." It talked about bringing up kids, when and how to introduce them to God, when and how to introduce them to sex, and then had a million articles about how spanking is the ONLY way to discipline your child (ie "Why the Rod is Righteous and Should Be Used by All Parents!") and that it's the only one way God endorses.

Last time I checked, you could be a Christian parent and bring your kid ups to be perfectly normal and religious without spanking them, but maybe there's a lot I don't know. I don't really have a stance on that . . . at least not yet . . .

(Just one question . . . isn't "the rod" just a symbolic term for "discipline?" Obviously, you can't bring up a child without disciplining him or her . . . but that doesn't necessarily mean always reaching for a paddle, belt, or long stick . . . )

It's that Fundamentalism factor again. Nevermind that the actual Bible was written in Hebrew and had all sorts of chapters winnowed out again; nevermind that Jesus's divinity was decided on a vote by a bunch of random Roman men a century after he lived: The Bible is infallible.

It's another culture; it really is. There are people who believe the US is a Christian nation; there are people who don't. There are people who would willingly go to jail on counts of child abuse as a martyr for spanking their child (they actually recommended on that site . . . ), and there are people who find even the most leniant spanking utterly offensive. People are pro-abortion or pro-choice; pro-war or anti-war; pro-death penalty or anti-death penalty. The media talks sometimes about the "Catholic Hispanic base" and "Black Evangelical base" and how they plays in to the Rebublican side, but an awful, awful lot of the word-war seems to be between WASPs.

This division between Red and Blue based almost entirely on moral issues . . . it's a cultural divide. It's not about how the country spends money anymore, or how much privacy people get: It's about our culture.

A couple of times I've actually wondered if perhaps the South should have broken away. I don't agree with slavery, HEAVENS no, but the Civil War was a nationalistic war. I almost always agree with ethnic, religious, or regional groups that want to assert autonomy. The South was doing that; they had a lifestyle and a culture and the North was trying to suppress it. Objectively, they had every right. Morally, perhaps not-- but who's to decide morals? Me? God?

I think that God likes to laugh as he tells everyone to do something different; that everyone's different way of following is the way. He laughs particularly hard when someone believes their way is the ONE way.

I think there's an element of the old Greek gods in him. He likes to cause drama . . . and just laugh . . .

. . . or maybe we're supposed to learn from it?

Though the South breaking away wouldn't solve the division in the US now. Maybe SOME of my fellow Indianian compatriots think they're part of the South (and that it ought to break away; ahh, I love the editorial section . . . ), but there are plenty of people in the North with this same Bible-Belt sort of culture. It's not possible to simply have a nationalistic war and become two separate nations; we've marble cake-ified.

I really do enjoy reading things that piss me off . . . they give me energy, for some reason.

Speaking of which, someone wrote into the Truth about that review. I think I am still going to send mine in; this one focused mostly on the YHO being good, and how she was undermining efforts to save the Elco. As a YHO member, I didn't brag; instead, I wrote about the Symphony and their effects on the music programs in Elkhart.

Woot, I got some inspiration for my book! I also have some for my last ode in Creative Writing; my other two were sarcastic, so I thought I'd do one that was actually nice, and now I have one.

What does "woot" mean? Darren told me it meant something bad.

Then again, that's Darren. He also tells me pretty regularly that I'm a Communist and, in second grade, that I would grow up to be a bus driver who would crash into a building. His dad also writes the most inflammatory editorials I have ever seen.

Post to RedxDeath

In response to redxdeath 's request:

I am a verbose person and I like writing about everything, and though this "flaw" of mine has given me difficulty in writing college essays (which are retarded anyway), my journal is my outlet in which there are no actual restrictions; I may post whatever I want whenever I want, exercising free speech in its purest and untainted form, and no one really can get mad, because they're not required to read it. See, I've already made half my points in one sentence; I can cheat on this thing you've asked me to do because, being the verbose writer I am, I have learned to love semicolons and dashes, those wonderful devices that make sentences legal but long.

I am not pissed off at you. I was, when you randomly came onto Niff's journal and bashed Harry Potter, but I figured that was just some having-a-bad-day whim of yours you needed to get or something and I've moved on, but I do understand why my friends are a little wary of you: After all, you simply favorited us without knowing who we are, on the basis of only one post in which you did nothing but bash-- and they are suspicious of some of your posts.

 I have a proclivity to trust everyone, so even if you were some demented stalker with the intent to rape and kill us all, I either wouldn't notice or wouldn't trust myself to believe you would do that. I cannot say the same goes for everyone else, though; 99% of the population is more cautious when it comes to trusting people.

I am also not in college, not yet-- just for the record.

Question, though: Assuming you do not have bad intent, any particular reason why you favorited us, if you supposedly hate(d) us?

This post was exactly 8 sentences long, 9 if you include the fragment at the top.

Post to RedxDeath

In response to redxdeath 's request:

I am a verbose person and I like writing about everything, and though this "flaw" of mine has given me difficulty in writing college essays (which are retarded anyway), my journal is my outlet in which there are no actual restrictions; I may post whatever I want whenever I want, exercising free speech in its purest and untainted form, and no one really can get mad, because they're not required to read it. See, I've already made half my points in one sentence; I can cheat on this thing you've asked me to do because, being the verbose writer I am, I have learned to love semicolons and dashes, those wonderful devices that make sentences legal but long.

I am not pissed off at you. I was, when you randomly came onto Niff's journal and bashed Harry Potter, but I figured that was just some having-a-bad-day whim of yours you needed to get or something and I've moved on, but I do understand why my friends are a little wary of you: After all, you simply favorited us without knowing who we are, on the basis of only one post in which you did nothing but bash-- and they are suspicious of some of your posts.

 I have a proclivity to trust everyone, so even if you were some demented stalker with the intent to rape and kill us all, I either wouldn't notice or wouldn't trust myself to believe you would do that. I cannot say the same goes for everyone else, though; 99% of the population is more cautious when it comes to trusting people.

I am also not in college, not yet-- just for the record.

Question, though: Assuming you do not have bad intent, any particular reason why you favorited us, if you supposedly hate(d) us?

This post was exactly 8 sentences long, 9 if you include the fragment at the top.

Marcia Fulmer Can Eat My Rosin Dust!!!

I thought I had a good rant going; I bitched her out, etc, etc . . . but then my dad sat down and actually helped me write this thing (well, he just made cuts) and I've got a good thing going, I think.

You see, I followed the maxim "Kill your enemy with kindness." She can't bash this; there's no way. She's going to look like a real jerk.

I actually sent it in the to the People's Forum. Hold your breath, everyone . . .

( Symphony Deserves Thanks, Not Criticism )

Maybe I'll be in. I sure hope so. I'll be watching for myself in AP US Government class.

. . . and, hey, I killed two birds with one stone: I know what my First Amendment rights are!

Since we're on the topic of opinions, I have just one random hypothetical question. In so many romantic stories, girls (or boys) are in love, unrequitedly so. They want the boy (or the girl) for themselves, and are jealous of whoever is "stealing" their beloved's affections away. This is supposedly true love, true unrequited love.

Yet, at the same time, those who set their lovers free and wish to see them happy are glorified as those whose love is most pure.

So, my question is: Are you more or less in love with someone if you're happier to see them happy in love with someone else than with you? I'd like opinions!

Marcia Fulmer Can Eat My Rosin Dust!!!

I thought I had a good rant going; I bitched her out, etc, etc . . . but then my dad sat down and actually helped me write this thing (well, he just made cuts) and I've got a good thing going, I think.

You see, I followed the maxim "Kill your enemy with kindness." She can't bash this; there's no way. She's going to look like a real jerk.

I actually sent it in the to the People's Forum. Hold your breath, everyone . . .

( Symphony Deserves Thanks, Not Criticism )

Maybe I'll be in. I sure hope so. I'll be watching for myself in AP US Government class.

. . . and, hey, I killed two birds with one stone: I know what my First Amendment rights are!

Since we're on the topic of opinions, I have just one random hypothetical question. In so many romantic stories, girls (or boys) are in love, unrequitedly so. They want the boy (or the girl) for themselves, and are jealous of whoever is "stealing" their beloved's affections away. This is supposedly true love, true unrequited love.

Yet, at the same time, those who set their lovers free and wish to see them happy are glorified as those whose love is most pure.

So, my question is: Are you more or less in love with someone if you're happier to see them happy in love with someone else than with you? I'd like opinions!