What Don't You Understand About Another's Race, Ethnicity or Culture?

Originally posted by ceci2006
That's what I mean when the "old money" is an equal opportunity discriminator and exploiter. They are so high-brow, they treat their own worse than dogs and the hired help.

So what? How does that affect you?

And Bill Gates? They can only use him as much as they can and then throw him out like yesterday's trash. They don't forget Bill Gates' "humble roots". Money doesn't even make them forget that.
:
No wonder Bill Gates has turned to philanthropy.

He didn't get where he is by letting people use him. And he hasn't "turned to philanthropy". He's always been generous.

It only proves that even America is a society that has its own sort of royalty in which the peasants are blocked from even shining their shoes.

Is that what you want? To shine their shoes?

I guess it isn't such a funny matter when there is a class of people in this country that even treat their pets better than they treat you. Being marginalized isn't as laughable as it seems, is it?

My Gawd, if that's what you sit around and worry about, then you need to get a life.:shk:

It's not me who needs to get a life. It's you.

It seems that you don't understand that even you cannot always receive everything due to a feeling of entitlement. Even you can be treated with a lack of respect by the elitist of the elite.

That renders the American Dream might useless, doesn't it?

Is the overzealous and intense ridicule, the social opposition to those with money, any different than racism?

Do you blame them because they are rich? Or can you quote, thread and give factual examples of where they deserve your criticism?

How can we ever hope to be tolerant or even understanding of another race, when we are so intolerant of everything else?

People with money
Other religions
Hip Hop
People with power

Isn't the battle, the controversy over racism really all about tolerance? Acceptance? Yet, where is the tolerance on this thread???

Half of the posts are about "Slamming" another members opinion or statement.

Semper

Those are good questions to ask. But, I've tried to do that in my other thread already.

I think these questions, however, should be opened up as a challenge to everyone to find the answer. Happy hunting!

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Ok.

Ive always wondered why people in Europe have substandard hygeine. This is not an insult, its an observation. I noticed it in Germany, and Ive noticed it on visits to the continent. When I was in Germany, I was surprised to learn that alot of the people did not bathe frequently, and instead, resorted to perfumes and such to attempt masking smells, which made the situation worse.

Stereotypically, people think its the French who are unhygenic, but honestly, I found it was all over Europe, regardless of nationality. Deodorant is not commonly used.

I have foudn this mainly limited in Europe. When I was in the middle east, I found that Arabs were actually very clean people. They showered or bathed daily, and always washed their hands and faces before prayertime. I learned that cleanliness is a virtue in Islam.

Ive also noticed that Asians, like Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans, are very clean folks who are fastitdious in their habits.

What gives? is there a cultural reason showering and washing ones whole body is not big in Europe?

Sorry, but which parts of europe have you made your "observations" ?
When you say europeans , are you talking about "ethnic" europeans or residents ?

I'm from the grand duchy of luxemburg (and i live there), I studied in belgium , I make frequent trips to germany and france and i lived in iceland , italy is not foreign to me , i have family in england, argentina and australia and have travelled there on some occasions, all together i have spent time in most european countries (and others on this planet)

That is definitely not the impression i had , but maybe my own stench masks it all or maybe it was pure coincidence that i met only clean people. Who knows.

Yes there are "hygienically challenged" people, not more and not less than in any country i've been to (even outside of europe)

Reading your post , one could believe that europeans are the most vile human beings on this planet.

You talk about the 19 th -20 th century well go back a bit talk about roman bathhouses , medieval hygiene (oh yes very much so until the 16th-17th century, old roman habit)

Oh a last little thing , most japanese do not wear perfume of any sort . As they usually spend a lot of time in their baths (they wash and only after, they bathe) , wearing perfume would be considered as you would try to hide a lack of hygiene.

Originally posted by Hvitserk

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
What gives? is there a cultural reason showering and washing ones whole body is not big in Europe?

That is definitely not the impression i had , but maybe my own stench masks it all or maybe it was pure coincidence that i met only clean people. Who knows.

Yes there are "hygienically challenged" people, not more and not less than in any country i've been to (even outside of europe)

Reading your post , one could believe that europeans are the most vile human beings on this planet.

You talk about the 19 th -20 th century well go back a bit talk about roman bathhouses , medieval hygiene (oh yes very much so until the 16th-17th century, old roman habit)

Oh a last little thing , most japanese do not wear perfume of any sort . As they usually spend a lot of time in their baths (they wash and only after, they bathe) , wearing perfume would be considered as you would try to hide a lack of hygiene.

Nor is it mine.

I'm Scandinavian i.e. North European, and I think I have a plausible answer for Skadi's question.

Because it is so f#... COLD there. Simply.

Untill recently (my early childhood, my parents time) we didn't have hot water. I remember my mother and later my father took me to the communal baths. I was way up in my teens before we moved to a flat with hot water. A few years later I left home and had to go to the baths again. I did it once a week - and I never used deodrant (foregive me Skadi).

I'll put out another one.
Why are Americans so ignorant about other cultures than their own?
Regarding everything from costumes to geography.

[edit on 21/9/06 by khunmoon]

Originally posted by Duzey
Italian is an ethnic group, not a race. That makes Madonna's race white and her ethnicity Italian. Madonna lists herself as white on her myspace page.

I have a close friend that is Italian, and he considers himself white. Going by skin colour alone, he is often mistaken for Middle Eastern.

And yes, he does think he's Tony Soprano.

[edit on 13-9-2006 by Duzey]

[edit on 13-9-2006 by Duzey]

Italians could call themselves latino, officially and logically. Latino is the term used to describe a person who has a native tongue composed from Latin. Now english has latin in it but not as much as spanish, Italian , Romanian, turkish, the term Latino has nothing to do with hispanics.

[edit on 9/21/2006 by StreetCorner Philosopher]

From Answers.com

La·ti·no (lə-tē'nō, lă-, lä-) pronunciation
n., pl. -nos.

1. A Latin American.
2. A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States. See Usage Note at Hispanic.

[Short for Spanish latinoamericano, Latin-American, from latino, Latin, from Latin Latīnus. See Latin.]
Latino La·ti'no adj.
www.answers.com...

Semper

The dictionary is ever-changing. Latin derivatives...applies to many.

Originally posted by StreetCorner Philosopher

Originally posted by Duzey
Italian is an ethnic group, not a race. That makes Madonna's race white and her ethnicity Italian. Madonna lists herself as white on her myspace page.

I have a close friend that is Italian, and he considers himself white. Going by skin colour alone, he is often mistaken for Middle Eastern.

And yes, he does think he's Tony Soprano.

[edit on 13-9-2006 by Duzey]

[edit on 13-9-2006 by Duzey]

Italians could call themselves latino, officially and logically. Latino is the term used to describe a person who has a native tongue composed from Latin. Now english has latin in it but not as much as spanish, Italian , Romanian, turkish, the term Latino has nothing to do with hispanics.

[edit on 9/21/2006 by StreetCorner Philosopher]

Italians are latins certainly not latinos
latinos = latino americanos
why latino, because of latin america (speak spanish or portuguese)
latin because of ethnicity (latium , rome, italy) if you push it a bit you could even say that part (most) of the french population is latin (gallo-roman culture)

Turkish is not a latin language it's an ural-altaic language
English is a germanic language, your description of how it contains latin is not relevant

french , spanish, italian, romanian , portuguese are latin languages and the people could be called "of latin culture" certainly not latinos (latin americans)

Latino is not a race. It is a term that got made up to describe people from South of the US border because Native American had already been used. The link Semper provided is correct. Just because someone may want to call Italians Latino, it doesn't make them Latino.

And to the fellow that mentioned the difference between Northern Italians and Southern ones, you guessed it right. His family is from Sicily.

Also note, I am not the one saying he is white, nor am I saying Madonna is white. My friend and Madonna are the ones saying they are white, and I think they probably know what race they are and don't need anyone to tell them differently.

PS. I just noticed the poster above me is from Luxembourg, What an amazingly beautiful country! My parents visited there when I was quite young and brought me home a book of photos.





[edit on 22-9-2006 by Duzey]

Originally posted by sympthons_WDF
DG, when a person tries to speak another language, of course its going to sound stupid. Thats because the person's way of speaking is'nt acustomed to the sounds some letters require to be prounounced correctly, like the RRRRRRRRR rolling of the tounge on top of ur gum to make that sound in Spanish.

Wow, 3 Music Major Alerts in one thread:
Since we voice people have to trill, clip, flip, and roll our Rs & Ds, there is more to this than simple foregion to the toung issues.

Some people, genetically, can't roll their Rs. It's similar to not curving their toung, or even being able to flip their toung over, in the front.

I am much gifted, I can do all 3. But sadly, my toung is long, and so I have issues with any change in dialect that rely on Ts and Ss. Can do it if I think, but doesn't always work.

Originally posted by Duzey

PS. I just noticed the poster above me is from Luxembourg, What an amazingly beautiful country! My parents visited there when I was quite young and brought me home a book of photos.

[edit on 22-9-2006 by Duzey]

thank you come back anytime our breweries have come up with 2-3 new types

HEY!!

Can you ship it??

Semper

Originally posted by WalkInSilence
I have traveled in most of Europe, a little North Africa and the US. I have met dirty people, stinky people, nasty people ALL over.
The people I have hung out with have been clean.
Maybe I just don't attract dirt?

No. Thats not the question. The question was why Europeans do not bathe alot.

Perhaps one of the reasons the Native Americans perceived "The Whites" as filthy was because of their body odor that was a result of their diet?

No. It was because whites did not bathe. At all. The Natives did wash off in rivers and lakes, and Indian women used skins and leaves to absorp menstrual flow. European women simply bled on their inner skirts.

Granted it was common in Europe centuries ago to cover body odor with perfume.

It still is.

The Inuit of Greenland could not bathe regularly, it would also have been fatal to them. Grease on the body helps it maintain it's immunity.

The did not bathe because they live on a virtual glacier thats windy. Hypothermia kills within minutes. Wet skin exposed to cold air and wind can kill in less than an hour.

WEurope is no where near that cold.

Many aspects contribute to our body odor, diet, intake off pesticides, hormones, fertilizer etc. in our diet. Yes and different races smell different.

Yes. But the question is not why they smell like they do. The question is why do they not bathe daily? Daily proper hygeine with soap and water does an excellent job of removing all body odor, regardless of diet.

I truly don't think Europeans dress up, (having fashion designers around the corner is for the very very rich )

I do. They dress alot more fancy than people in the states.

I lived there for thirty years and I think it's a matter of the "circles" one moves in.

My observations are from simply public life and watching people. I do not move in any "circles".
.

On the contrary I find, now that I have moved home, the American women to be very vain. I see lots of make up, high heels and exposure of body parts.

I disagree. I see WAY more boots, heels, skimpy clothing, heavy makeup, and exposure of body parts that in the states might get you fined. People wear WAY less here, and load up with alot more perfume and stuff. Alot shorter skirts, alot tighter clothes, ect.

Alot shorter skirts, alot tighter clothes, ect.

That's a bad thing???



Semper

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
No. It was because whites did not bathe. At all. The Natives did wash off in rivers and lakes, and Indian women used skins and leaves to absorp menstrual flow.

Australian aborignies did something similar.. they apparently used dried mud.

European women simply bled on their inner skirts

Er.. no they didn't. They used rags.. [as pads] hence the term. They'd wash them and re-use them. They've been doing this for centuries.


[edit on 24-9-2006 by riley]

Originally posted by semperfortis
HEY!!

Can you ship it??

Semper

way off topic :

as far as i know "diekirch" is a big export to the us

I will probably be called racist but here it goes. Why do some mexican immigrants thank that America belongs to them and they don't need to learn english.

What Don't You Understand About Another's Race, Ethnicity or Culture?

Hmmm--

A better title, owing to content herein, whould have been

What DON'T you understand about Another's Race, Ethnicity, or Culture?

If nothing else, and believe me, there IS nothing else, you have answered the question of why Racism is such a huge issue.

JMHO