Are we spoiled?

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OscarM

Member
Granted i've seen some bad scenarios and squatted in the woods.
Still the thought of eating pork in india freaks me out for a special toilet incident i had.



I've seen kids flat out refuse to eat food being offered to them by the under privileged because they thought didnt like the people killing the chicken just before cooking it. yet we got to the airport and they nommed KFC
It's a large detachment to reality that my grandparents generation doesnt have but we do.
People refuse to watch bear grylls cos "its icky and he kills the fish before eating it" yet they were eating fish and chips that day with me.
but i guess its a personal belief that if you cant kill it, dont eat it.
its a large detachment from necessary skills that have made people very silly in their views. our grandparents would call them soft.
We entitle ourself to eat an animal but dont have the guts to kill it.

the worst thing ive seen is students complaining about anything - they completely ignore how much they have compared to the rest of the world.
the 99% might be doing badly in the US but the 99% in thailand is much worse off.

Kids in the west are spoiled in that regard. we expect a better standard of living cos we're in the west.

@Chadderz - the internet is great tool for experiencing things outside your vicinity but im not talking about "not travelling" = "sheltered"
im talking about "not wanting to experience and do something outside your comfort zone" = "sheltered"

^Good luck guy. Thats mess of arguments i made!

EDIT: it annoys me because all my work for uni is online but my exams are written.
i like written but dont have the time or opportunity with uni. i cant type fast at all..
 
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TheComingEvil

Member
When I was at university cramming for exams, I'd make handwritten notes of the material, not so I could use the notes, but so I could get used to writing by hand again. If I didn't practice in the weeks leading up to an exam period, I'd get cramp in my hand half way through an exam.

An unexpected side effect of the digital age.
 
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Errapolis

New member
^^ this. How do you make vegetarians out of most of modern society? Force them to kill and gut their own meat. If you're raised fishing and trapping you don't really have a problem with it though. Heck I saw a pig get killed, butchered, cooked, and served to me when I was like 4.
Contrary to modern bubble-wrap-child societal beliefs it did not scar me nor did it make me into some sort of flesh hungry sociopath. I was staying on a farm and I thought it was pretty darn normal.

I think that's one of the ways kids are spoiled though is by parents giving too much attention to child protection and babying their kids. My playgrounds were wood and steel and they've all been replaced with plastic. Our goal was to climb to the top because wanted to be the best, now so many parents are afraid to let their kids step out of the stroller.
When I was little if I got a gash, cut, or scrape the attitude was "yeah it hurts, patch it up and get over it." It's not that my parents weren't sympathetic to the pain but they were teaching me how to endure pain which wasn't going to kill me and which types of pain warranted real concern.

Heck I know a WW2 veteran who used to have rock fights when he was a kid, now they don't want to allow snow ball fights!
 
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madman32395

New member
Cousin and a friend of his were having a rock fight when i was a teen and my cousin hit me in the head ....lol....i wasnt hurt just a small scrape.

Fun times.
 
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AlyssaJonas

New member
If i consider western society superior to third world society is that racist? Ive always accepted my privledges as the perks of living in an advanced society.
 
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Stephanie

Member
no racist is when you consider western culture superior to another culture.
again much of this is becoming largely irrelevant due to globalisation, my generation is proof of that
 
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julietravelcaster

New member
@ vampyregirl - I'd say your definition of culture is severely dated (Victorian at best) and lacks a real understanding of what constitutes culture. Seriously.... what exactly are you using as a definition of culture?!?

You might want to explore the term Cultural Imperialism and then check out Cultural Relativism. If you don't have an understanding of these two terms/concepts then it'll be hard for you to see why what your saying about 'cultural superiority' is complete and utter nonsense.

I'd suggest you consider the following for a definition of culture. If you can't accept that please explain why:





@ Zaad - uhhh no it's not. When was the last time you looked up the definition of racism?

While bigotry, xenophobia and cultural imperialism are often hand in hand with racism... they are not by definition racism.
 
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PorcelainSky

Member
id say:
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human ETHNIC groups justify discrimination.

and each ethnic group carries its own culture.

if i was chinese and hated people of japanese descent, you'd call me racist no?
 
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answermejoe

New member
Its not just nonwhite countries i wouldn't care to live. i have no desire to live in Albania or Bulgaria or Bosnia either. I suppose there is a reason why northern/western europeans have viewed eastern and southern europeans as lessers.
And Zaad has a point, Anglos once viewed the Irish the same way they viewed blacks and japanese, Chinese, Koreans have been traditional enemies. in the early days of Israel the European Jews discriminated against Mizrachi or eastern jews. That was cultural rather than racial discrimination. Arabs and Persians are traditional enemies even though both are semetic Moslems. today there is a lot of resentment of Arabs in Turkey because they fought alongside the infidel British against fellow muslims. Long time to hold a grudge don't you think?
What causes people, even people of the same race and religion to be enemies? Is it just Politics?
 
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mike180ie

New member
Yes ethnic discrimination can be an extension of racism - in fact the UN makes no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnicity discrimination. However the reason I raised the issue was because one should strive to be explicit about the terms one uses in this type of discussion otherwise the conversation rapidly becomes nonsensical.

The reason this came up was because of the apparent anachronistic definition of culture that Vampyregirl was using.
 
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StefanAKASeTeK

New member
I'm no fan of cultural relativism.
I think there really are tangible ways of leading a "better" life and some countries have more of those ways than others. Or get the balance better.
For example I'm glad my daughter is growing up in the UK and not Saudi Arabia.
Because while Saudi culture undoubtably has produced many wonderous things and in some cases probably handles them better than British cultural norms, female equality ain't one of them.
Cultural relativism and imperialism would suggest I have no grounds to think that British culture is better than Saudi culture in this regard but I disagree.
 
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fawdown

Member
umm.. so what does that have to do with your defintion of culture? You do realize I wasn't calling you a racist because of your earlier post right? I was questioning your understanding of culture... eg. what you figure culture actually is in practice among a group of people.

This is really neither here nor there to be honest. I don't think most people emigrate to those countries. I'm sure the main reasons for that first and foremost would be their political instability and their economically depressed status in comparison to their western European counterparts. Were you ever actually at risk off having to move to these countries? I doubt it... but I'm open to here your side of things if you were.




Uhhh... and why is that? You're making it sound as if this is some sort of self evident truth. You've posted up that you wouldn't live there and somehow therefore that is explanation enough to make them 'culturally inferior' in your eyes and in the estimation of Western Europeans. Non sequitur for sure.




Again it comes down to your definition of racism. My most of those cases are at their heart issues of racism. Sure culture gets blamed and dragged into it... xenophobia is often the familiar bedfellow of racism... but I'd racism is most likely the primary root in many of those conflicts. Being able to point at someones culture and label it inferior is a way of justifying racism... do you now see why your previous statements about one culture being superior come off as thinly veiled racism?




Really? Where did you gather this info from?
The Persians are NOT considered Semitic peoples... Their language then and now has always been Parsi (Farsi), which is an Indo-European language that has more in common with Greek, Latin, Celtic,Indian and Germanic types of languages than it does with the semetic language of the Jews or the Arabs. Genetically the Persians have had something of a mix of cultures... most notably the Mongol peoples... but they are not generally considered semetic people as originally they descended from Indo-Iranian stock which is itself considered part of the wider group of Indo-European peoples.


So this supports your point about W. European culture being superior to E.European culture??! I don't see how that pans out.



The reasons can be myriad... most stemming from long standing racism, xenophobia coupled with socio-economic issues. If you want to tackle these types of questions you really... really... wan't to work out a good solid definition of 'culture'. In fact I'd say it's imperative for you to even get started on the subject.
 
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