Culture Forum

Just my two cents, but thank you.

Paul, what a splendid crash course on early American history, you knocked the ball right out of park! Thank you very much, we all can learn something from what you’ve written.

Mahbubeh, region has a lot to do with accent as I mentioned in the post.

Rarely do profiles contain religious affiliation except in some religious hospitals.

If you feel that you do not have an opportunity to express something on the forum, send me an email and we can talk there.

Thank you Mr alston;

you answered my questions though i didn’t expect you to expand on that part about Obama to that extent!THANK YOU ALOT.

about the accent i thought maybe things like the region one lives also affects on it,as i read about it somewhere. i wanna know if its right.

and  would you please tell me if profiles of people contain religion??there are more things that i like to say but have no opportunity to express .

regards.

Whew, well done sir.

Mr. Alston listed those groups as “if you think Americans are all Caucasian, what kind?” (I paraphrase)

His response lists the major Caucasian groups present in American culture. If I may bore you with history I’d like to say more about the people who lived here before I was born…

“The Caucasians” weren’t all English. We were a “melting pot” from the earliest days.

The English colonized the US mid-Atlantic colonies. New York was formerly New Amsterdam, the capitol of the Dutch colonies. Further north, Quebec was the capitol of the French colonies. In the west were Spanish, French, and Russian holdings, Florida belonged to Spain. Also remember that even “the English” included others of the UK such as the Irish and the Scots. The English also provided room for the protestant French who settled in the South Atlantic colonies to escape religious persecution at home.

It took centuries for England to wrest control of Canada and what was then the “13 original colonies” from those other nations. The UK finally finished it in the wars of the 1760s. After they helped us with the hard part, we sought and won independence from the UK in the 1770s and all those people who had lived in our borders but were colonists of other nations became “Americans”.

Sadly for the history of my nation, beginning in the 1500’s European colonists brought people from Africa to be slaves. The American “version” of slavery was a horrible brutal institution unique in history that was so evil it finally brought the USA to it’s bloodiest war. By the time of this nations founding, some colonies were nearly half of African descent.

Africans were brought here for hundreds of years against their will and so they were a unique type of “settler” often forgotten in the history of my nation. Those Africans brought enormous influence on every aspect of American culture. They are as intertwined in our history as the histories of the Europeans or Natives who were here already. They have been here as long as Caucasians or Hispanics have.

Like the Europeans, the Africans were from many different cultures in Africa, and so there are aspects of different distinct African cultures also found here, as well as the many contributions that are uniquely African-American due to their unique history in the story of Mankind.

After our formation as a nation in the 1780s, such things as plagues, famines and wars in other nations brought enormous distinct ”waves” of immigrants to us from all over the world over the next 238 years.

So how did that impact us?

Each wave of immigration brought new things to our shores. There may have been Italians here since 1500 but until the big Italian immigrations, there wasn’t a distinct “Italian-American” subculture. Or any of those other nations (the Irish-Americans etc.).  Those people who descended from those distinct cultures retained some of the flavor of those cultures and we as a whole share the parts we all like.

So we commonly list the major subcultures, and the Italians, Germans, Poles, Hispanics, African-American, Chinese, and Irish are certainly all on that list.

Though these are distinct groups, President T. Roosevelt said “there’s no room here for hyphenated Americanism”.

It means we are all just plain ”Americans” and we define ourselves by our subgroups when it’s relevant to something. We expect people to be proud of where their ancestors are from and most people here enjoy and are proud of the variety of subcultures here. 

We’re all just plain Americans, the subgroups are just explanation of our differences and pride in our ancestors.

Hello Mahbubeh, you’ve asked some thought provoking questions and I appreciate having the opportunity to try and answer them. As one of my college instructors often said, “Let’s keep the board straight!”

You are correct about the two Caucasian groups that migrated to America, (i.e. the English and Hispanics) if you rewind time 238+ years and land during the days of the settlers. If you fast forward 238+ years you will have accumulated 238+ years of immigration that accounts for the sub categories and more.

All of these groups have distinct characteristics relating to their heritage.

Concerning your question of President Obama, he belongs to several groups:

1. Interracial - His father was an African (Kenyan) and his mother was Caucasian American.

2. Educated - His father earned a Master’s Degree in Economics from Harvard University and his mother earned a PhD in Anthropology. President Obama earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Law Degree from Harvard University. First Lady Michelle Obama earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and a Juris Doctor Degree in Law from Harvard University.

3. Income - It appears President Obama and family are from a low to middle income bracket.

4. Accent – No, their income bracket doesn’t cause them to speak with an accent. There is more of an accent of those born in various regions of the US such as in Southern or Eastern seaboard States regardless of race or ethnicity.

Concerning the characteristics of individuality and privacy, it doesn’t mean every single American fit those characteristics, it’s only a trait that is enough to mention and some will fit the description to a tee.

Finally, one division between all people is between those who are decent people and those who are not.

I hope this explanation answers your questions, if not, feel free to ask away!

Paul, you can open that kitchen window any time now!

Easypeasy, I haven’t forgotten your American Indian culture request, hopefully by this weekend.

Wow,  did you ask a hard question! Good luck to Mr. Alston.

Hello Mr alston,

When i was reading part3 i noticed you grouped caucasion americans into more than 9 sub groups while i thought to be just 2 groups as English who migrated from england and hispanic.

And the wondering thing is about black americans grouped also according their income?if i’m right does it affect on their accents?then which group does Obama include?Educated???

About Individualistic ,there is a question :do they not care about their partner’s trait about sth like joinig for lunch?for me it’s like insolence ,and offending.,its obvious because i’ve  grown up in a culture that likes to brings together people .

About the space except that part about driving on a lane  that is unacceptable for drivers here..hahha,,the example about seats is also true here.i noticed it manytimes foe example when there is a triple capacity bench if the first one sits on one corner the second would sits on the other corner not the middle.i think its true if i say Iranians value space.

mahbubeh.

Welcome Aljrafy, please feel free to make comments, ask questions or offer suggestions. :)

Hi there!

I don’t really know how this forum works.

How are we supposed to share and interact with others?

I hope you would tell me.

Hi Rose, thanks to you and all the participants who drive this culture forum. Your thoughts on mutual respect transcends all cultures and provides a safety net for minimizing embarrasing situations and unnecessary offenses.

Dear Mr. Alston,

I appreciate you again for all parts about American society and culture which were really perfect. I myself learned a lot. But as you mentioned the more we know, the more we know we don’t know. We should be always learning new things. And about different culture I think the most important item in every culture is “respect” and being cautious about all behaviors in order to avoid disrespect.

Peace.

Rose.

Welcome Mahbubeh, this is an open forum, therefore please feel free to start sharing your thoughts on culture or related topics.

Welcome Veindiz1 - Initially I didn’t understand what you were talking about. However, after doing some research on the word “neurotypical” I now understand your commentary on the culture topic.

For those who also didn’t understand Veindiz1’s comment, let me try to explain.

The writer is Autistic which is people who have a brain disorder that affect their behavior as well as social and communication skills.

The term “Neurotypical” means everyone who is not Autistic.

To those individuals who are autistic, in their world, people are divided into two groups, that is, those with autism and those who are not autistic. Therefore a discussion on various worldly cultures is confusing because to them there are only two cultures.

The writer goes on to bring out  the “neurotypical” problems of intolerance, injustice, abuse, struggles and nationalism while considering non-autistic people as being “normal.” 

If you read between the lines, the writer is saying that “if the world condition is a result of being “normal” then they don’t want any part of it!”

Veindiz1, I agree with you and thanks for submitting your commentary. I learned a lot from it!

Anja, you’re welcome and I appreciate your appreciation. 

Thanks for bringing out the other side of the commentary on young people. When I was a teenager during the sixties and seventies it was a common expression that said: “don’t trust anybody over 30!” Then after many reached 30, the saying was: “don’t trust anybody under 30!” 

Oh well, it basically is all relative, some younger people are more mature than some older people and older people should be wiser than younger people but that is not always the case. Thanks for including the quotations from long ago on the subject.

Samineh, you started it all! See there, this is what you get when you suggest a topic like this.

To qualify my writing on Americans being “individualistic” I will refer you WobblyJoe’s comments, I couldn’t have explained it better myself. 

I will say that Americans are basically friendly, approachable people that will go out of their way to help you. However, there is a point where this “individualistic” trait will come through and at that point a distinction can be made of the difference in cultures.

The positive points I made above does not apply to non-decent Americans, all bets are off with them.

Ghost.w0506, Welcome! You are so correct of the relationship between language and culture and have a very valid point in trying to learn the language without the culture being in the mix.

Concerning young people, older people thought our country didn’t stand a chance once my generation came on-line but fortunately we’re still here.  I understand your sentiments as I observe some habits of present day young people but I think in the end they’ll straigthen up and fly right!

Hello Lesya thanks! 

What you described as a pulling away from neighborliness (is that a word?) is trending in that direction. Neighborhoods are not the same as they use to be but there hasn’t been a total collapse. It’s more of a closer circle of relationships than before. 

One aspect of individualism that I was going to include but didn’t is the “entrepreneurial “part of American individualism.

This aspect is manifested in Americans taking their own idea and going it alone to pursue their dream. For example, consider the founders of such worldwide  enterprises as the  Ford (Henry Ford) Internet, Microsoft (Bill Gates), Apple Computer (Steve Jobs – an Arab), Dell Computer, Disneyland (Walt Disney), Ebay, Facebook, Twitter and a host of others were started by college drop-outs or were uneducated. 

This part of the American culture undoubtedlly encouraged these people to pursue their endeavors but group thinking cultures have advantages as well.

Paul, I always appreciate reading your comments to certain topics involving US culture or things related. You offer good additional information or adjustments from a US native perspective. Thanks!

Last but not least, Easypeasy.  You have always offered good solid comments and topic recommendations. You may remember that I wrote some information on American Indians contribution to the US culture when I wrote the lesson on The Bible Influence on American Culture a few months ago.

However, now that you asked, I’ll honor your request and do some detailed research on American Indian tribes, their cultures, and their influence on American culture and what’s happening with them now.

Thanks everyone and please contribute concerning your own culture or if you have any questions on anything that has been said.  Happy Culture learning!

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 Mr. Alston, thank you for sharing your post “Politeness in American Society” !

It was really interesting to read it and I learnt a lot of it, even though many aspects of it are similar to the German culture.

To give one example from my country referring to being polite; from my point of view, Germans find punctuality very important and also as a gesture of politeness. I’d say that the importance of being on time maybe comes from the thought that who arrives punctually shows that he/she cares and thus showing respect. Well, another reason for it is surely also because you use the time better when you are on time.

In one part of your post you mentioned several tribes of Native Americans. Could you please write a post about this part of culture? Maybe also what influences it still may have on the US culture of today (in case there are some). It would be very interesting to read about it.

wow .what going on here.let me in.

Individualism is not the same as “un-neighborliness”, which may not even be a real word. This country was founded by settlers, not immigrants, and one of the worst offenses in American culture is not care about your neighbor. We rely upon each other, not my government, for most things. It is more than rudeness, a person who doesn’t help their neighbor is actively disliked in general by most people.

We still entertain each other at our homes more often than we entertain out, we still call friends and colleagues to check on them if they have been absent, we still help our elderly neighbors with house and yardwork and we will still defend one another against those who would trample their rights. Individuality has nothing to do with any of those things.

Mr. Alston’s excellent summary of “politeness” is very complete. He covered about everything. Most nations have more rules of polite behavior than we do. We are very “golden rule” for the most part (treat others like you want to be treated).

Individualism isn’t the same as being selfish. Its more like ”strangers don’t get a vote on how I live” or “you live your way and I’ll live mine”.

Great respect to Alston for precious information. No doubts , American society is used to the individualism and feels itself comfortably. Many years have passed before the “elbow-room-behavior ” of Americans started to dominate. 

I must admit,  the style of “don’t disturb ” life here in Belarus is on stage of the development and improvement. We Belarusian people become more and more individual like you described Americans. The friendly visits to home of your friends or colleagues become rather as exception than a rule. I still remember times when it was a very kind and normal gesture to call to your colleague to ask how he/she feels him/herself (in case of the absence at work due to the illness for example ). Nowadays, to the great pity, this way of showing care and politeness is fading away.  There are also other signs of individualism in different occasions too. 

Slowly but surely Belarusian society goes to the total individualism. Probably whole world does the same. :(

Have a great day!  :)  

Dear friend ghost.w0506,

I slightly disagree with you when it comes to our German youth. I’ve heard people talking about this so called “switched-off or fun” generation. I wouldn’t dare to lump them all together. As with every generation there are the “good and always motivated” versus the ones with “little ambition and no interest in society” Just check out what pesimistic thoughts Socrates and Hesoid had about the youth in earlier times…doesn’t it sound like a tradition or even a pattern to criticize attitude, behavior and values of our youth? Why not motivate them to become better or let’s say to act differently in order to meet future challenges :) Just my two cents about being polite ;)

Hesoid ( 720 bc.) “I no longer have any hope in the future of our land when today’s youth one day form the men of tomorrow. Our youth are unbearable, irresponsible and terrible to look at.”

Socrates (470-399 bc.) speaks of the youth of his time like this: ” Our youth love luxury, make fun of authority, are bad mannered and have no respect for elderly people.  They contradict their parents, gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers…they simply are impossible.”

Pointing out the negatives all the time can be discouraging( I know, I know we Germans like to hear negative things first) ...but these are people and what they face is not only criticism but also peer pressure ;)

the behavior, special those of young Germans, have changed a lot . Nowadays mostly they don t like being polite, offer a seat to elder people, empty their mouth, before talking when they have a meal.

bad habit became popular more and more. Also that bad habit to enter a room with a cap on their head (for men) because we have that rule,  men never hold their cap on their head. just for women it is allowed. Germans have been knowed as “people of thinker and poems. but nowadays…....... youngster don t know a poem from famous German writers

Cultural influence – Culture has a direct influence on the language(s) used in society. Learning the culture of a society can identify some general characteristics of its people.

so, when many people are thinking this way, I really don t understand, why stupid people in German embassy in Theran said “You can learn German in Iran. No need to go to Germany”

Can t believe , that Germany chose such narrow minded compatriots for important work abroad.

After studying lesson two and three i can say I ‘ve become more familiar with american society.

although most of the politness points are in common with my country culture , ignoring some of them doesn’t show  rudness here.I’m so thankful to you Mr altson for teaching them to us.

for example iranians are not individualistics in a way that i got the meaning , the example that mentioned here ,if here you want your time for yourself and not sharing with the others it is to some how showing not being friendly.you know here being sociable and being with others ,trying to match yourself with the others is really cared.

in types of the rudness i see that ignoring some of them doesn’t show impolitness here.for example not holding the door,though holding the door for others shows you are so polite.

again and again thank you so much Mr Alston..i hope the other members also talk about their cultures ,the similarities and diffrences to know more about more cultures.