Tunnel Vision in Western Thought?

[S.A.M.]

personally i think the reservation is a safety net for them when they crash in westernized society,and some ppl know how easy that happens..

What is different in the reservations? Why do they "crash" in westernised society?

 

[kmguru]

Now that we are talking about various cultures around the world, having been to many parts of the world on job related activities, I can tell you that - people are the same all over the world "deep down". It is the superficial façade that literally creates the difference.

When I was in China, my young lady interpreter and I discussed cultural differences between America and China. At the end of the day, it turned out that we all share the same aspirations, needs, wants and vision of the future at the human level.

Now, if you want to talk about façade, the Iranian men are arrogant, women are wonderful, British walk around with a chip on their shoulder with respect to the people of their former colonies, married Nether land men are too quick to visit the Red Light area etc....but then, that is neither here or there....only when we act aggressively or not, things become messy like our present wars with so called terrorists or drug distributors.

 

[quadraphonics]

Yes I noted that all people in various parts of the states spoke in the language and accent of their white counterparts there.

No. White Chicagoans, including those of comparable class and background to Obama, speak differently than he does. Obama speaks like a black Chicagoan from the educated classes, with an international background.

If you haven't noticed the difference, well, suffice it to say that it's clear enough to US voters.

How far would Obama have gone if he spoke Kenyan, Hawaiin or Indonesian?

About as far as any non-English speaker, I'd imagine. It's sort of a pre-requisite for the job of President.

BTW, there is no language called "Kenyan."

 

[GeoffP]

Halachic Jews, Brahmins, Amish. How can you make out? They have a policy of excommunication if you leave the community. Even the Parsis were like that before.

I make out quite well, thankyou.

The damage from internally imposed segregation is less than that imposed externally; one is free to see the wider society in the first case - to make that transition to a larger world - but those in the second can never leave the community. Their ghettoization is forcible. So, not the same, really.

 

[NMSquirrel]

What is different in the reservations? Why do they "crash" in westernised society?

the crash i am refering to is when you don't have rent to pay and have to move..they have a place on the reservation in a house (or trailer).....
i was about to say; so they don't have to move back in with mom or dad...
but mom and dad is pry where they go(on the res...)

 

[S.A.M.]

I make out quite well, thankyou.

The damage from internally imposed segregation is less than that imposed externally; one is free to see the wider society in the first case - to make that transition to a larger world - but those in the second can never leave the community. Their ghettoization is forcible. So, not the same, really.

You obviously have little experience with voluntarily segregated societies. Besides the underlying xenophobia, it requires an excessively suffocating internal legal system to maintain that segregation and is more damaging than externally imposed ones, where one can move to a place where the xenophobia is less.

For internally segregated communities, the only "freedom" is the freedom to leave everything and everyone you know for another community, breaking with all the people you grew up with. Ever hear of the caste system? How free do you think they are to see the wider society since the last thousand or so years?

 

[iceaura]

In the US, you are an equal
”
So native Americans choose to be less educated, poor and unemployed?

What? The response was to the post quoted, your post. You were wondering about some consistent differences in the way Americans treated you, and I pointed out one possible root of them: in US society you - yourself, in person - are a part of the society, equally capable of doing harm, betraying others, etc. There is much less social curb on you, less protection of others - only your voluntary adherence to various norms.

My question was: can they leave the reservation and still easily be educated in their own languages, follow their own diet, customs, religion and culture

i assume that when you say "their own" you mean the ones developed to be common among them during a hundred years or so of a 300 year period starting about 1550 and ending about 1850. They can try. They would have a difficult time doing that whether they leave the reservation or not.

You obviously have little experience with voluntarily segregated societies. Besides the underlying xenophobia, it requires an excessively suffocating internal legal system to maintain that segregation and is more damaging than externally imposed ones, where one can move to a place where the xenophobia is less.

There aren't many such societies, outside of small religious cults, in the US. The Amish, for example, are not universally like that - and routinely lose about a third of their children to the surrounding societies, during the transition to adulthood.