Thread: Cultural Sensitivity

Originally Posted by lisacheers

you should have beating that kid..
oh yeah sadly i am from the usa and the kids here are probably more rude and disrespectful then any because of freedom of speech ....
okay probably not beating is such a good idea... but okay how about talk to the kids parents....
Cultural Sensitivity
sadly have no effect because so kid have no respect at all

well im from the u.s., but im not that offended he did that, im more offended that you talk about beating a 13 year old kid, for all we know he might have meant no disrespect, maby he was drawing it as a memorial thing. and freedom of speech deosnt mean you can threaten to beat people, there is a limit the freedom of speech even in the u.s.

Originally Posted by Hassun

Scourge,

1) We didn't ask what the Nanking Massacre was.
2) The spelling in your post was horrible.

pardon my quick typing, and i was giving a personal example to help further explain what i was trying to say.

Originally Posted by tsurara

I'm a teacher at a Japanese junior high school... and while I adore the kids and generally get along with them swimmingly, every so often one will do something incredibly insensitive in total innocence.
...
I'm not saying American students are necesarily any BETTER in this reguard... (for example. how many times on this board have people used the racial slur "Jap" as an abbreviation for "Japanese"?) or that I think the kid was TRYING to be obnoxious (I know he wasn't). I just wonder if there's anything we can do to make kids in our own cultures slightly less ignorant of the potential misunderstandings and hurt feelings that can come from lack of appropriate knowledge in the context of another culture.

It isn't just children in my limited experience nor is it exclusive to one or two cultures. I can't tell you the number of times I was told what the US was like while I lived in Canada based on hearsay or a single person they had met. Knowing I was from the US only made it worse too. It was if not only did they not realize how rude they were they expected me to agree with them wholeheartedly no matter how absurd what they said was. I think it is a combination of natural pride int their country and the general assumption that everyone thinks the way they do. It has never ceased to amaze me how many people think they know more about a given subject then those who experience it.

I came out of the experience knowing two things. That the instant someone says "I don't mean to be rude" not only are they about to be extremely rude they really do mean it. The second was that I couldn't dwell on their ignorance or it would leave me very bitter and no matter how rude and ignorant they were on certain subjects in general they were very lovely people that I am glad to have known.

Originally Posted by anime_being_god

Well for someone else from a different country and place, I see that it may be hard fomr them to understand the horrors brought by those kinds of things. Like say a mass murder occured in....lets say Cuba or something, of course we may say "Aww, so sad" or whatever, but people there living, its a much bigger thing. Im not saying it all good and jolly that its this way but it is. Theres not the much unity between people of the world internationaly

No there isn't. In my opinion the only thing we can do is encourage people to realize that they don't know or have experienced everything and need to ask the ones that do about it if they want to know. However since children tend to be "me" oriented good luck with that till they are older. In the meantime just forgive them and try and educate them when you have the opportunity. Most people are worth getting to know after all.

Originally Posted by AnimeGeek

pardon my quick typing, and i was giving a personal example to help further explain what i was trying to say.

I was talking to Scourge. Hence the "Scourge,"

Originally Posted by AnimeGeek

pardon my quick typing, and i was giving a personal example to help further explain what i was trying to say.

Well in short thats what I was doing.

Originally Posted by Hassun

I was talking to Scourge. Hence the "Scourge,"

I was scratching my head there because wasnt I the one having MY hand slapped? And the answet is a yes.