Friday, July 6, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Here's a good example
Happy Independence Day, I saw this article on AOL news today.
Kansas Shoppers Step Over Dying Woman
WICHITA, Kan. (July 4) - As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.
~~~
The woman later died. Do you think something like this would happen anywhere else? To be fair, this convenience store probably had a"perfect storm" of cretins happening. Even in some of the seediest stores in southern Arizona, I can't imagine people just ignoring a dying woman. Then again, how would I know unless it happpened?
The cell phone bit really ticked me off. It's as if this person saw a dying woman, and thought: "Oh, cool. Somebody dying. I usually only get to see that on TV, I guess I'll take a picture!"
I don't think this is common or normal behavior at all, but it's a swift warning sign when you take a room full of random Americans, and each one happens to be an apathetic sociopath toward one another. Not good, not good at all.
Kansas Shoppers Step Over Dying Woman
WICHITA, Kan. (July 4) - As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.
~~~
The woman later died. Do you think something like this would happen anywhere else? To be fair, this convenience store probably had a"perfect storm" of cretins happening. Even in some of the seediest stores in southern Arizona, I can't imagine people just ignoring a dying woman. Then again, how would I know unless it happpened?
The cell phone bit really ticked me off. It's as if this person saw a dying woman, and thought: "Oh, cool. Somebody dying. I usually only get to see that on TV, I guess I'll take a picture!"
I don't think this is common or normal behavior at all, but it's a swift warning sign when you take a room full of random Americans, and each one happens to be an apathetic sociopath toward one another. Not good, not good at all.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Let's kick this off.
The idea behind this blog is to explore the reports by Europeans, Russians and others that America is seriously lacking in the sociality department. For a good example of the basis behind these claims, I'd reccomend reading Winston Wu's E-book at http://www.happierabroad.com/ebook/Contents.htm. While I don't agree with many of his wild notions, like the way he seems to blaim feminism for things, or how he makes sweeping generalizations from his own anecdotes, he does write some very interesting points worth summarizing, his views are:
Americans huddle in cliques, even after high-school.
Americans are highly distrustful of people outside their clique or circle of friends.
It's socially unacceptable to meet people you don't know in a normal atmosphere (grocery stores, shops, etc) whereas this is common-place in Europe / Russia and other countries.
"Breaking the ice" is just a term invented by Americans, and it doesn't require nearly as much effort elsewhere.
There is enormous peer pressure to conform to specific images and archetypes created by pop-culture, and that it's not nearly as bad in other countries as in the USA.
We try to boost ourselves with fake optimism, afraid people will see our faults, and this makes us socially insecure.
Even normal, non-assuming men get stigmatized as "creepy" if they try to approach a woman they don't know outside of a club / party / social setting, but this is normal behavior abroad. (Personally, I think this is a good example of Winston Wu being too subjective again. Anybody can come off as 'creepy' if you approach someone too strongly. However, this seems to be one of his thesis points in the book.)
It's more socially acceptable in Europe for men to be regular-friends with women, so women don't automatically assume men are trying to pick them up, therefore it's easier to chat and casually date.
Because of these points and other things, he says the dating scene in the U.S is far more difficult and awkward.
Winston also says Americans are extremely isolated and believe that the 95% of the rest of the world behave as they do, with their same tendencies, but this is a total myth.
I think Winston is looking at the rest of the world through somewhat rose-tinted glasses, because there are some human traits which you just can't get away from. However, I'm willing to bet some of these social problems are much, much worse here in the states.
What I found fascinating is that I never noticed these things until I started talking to European exchange students, and I noticed the drastic personality differences. While most Americans I know are shut off around people in public, Europeans seem quick to engage people in a very inclusive way, even in unlikely places. So, what can we learn from them?
In addition to trying to find a multi-cultural array of people to interview for this blog, the regular people I talk to around our bleak little town of Tucson, AZ will work as an experiment in itself: How receptive will people in non-social environments be to someone talking to them (and not trying to sell something)? How many people will ignore me, react with hostility, or how many people will be friendly and open to conversation? How many people will mace me in the face or tazer me in the balls? How much of an ass of myself could I potentially make? Most of these are very important pieces of data.
Other things I may do: See if adults really do pack together in cliques by doing things like interviewing the gaggles (is that a word?) of blonde-haired girls at my college, and other people who seem socially uniformed. I will also examine popular culture and TV and see if it really discourages diversifying your social life. Could American pop-culture be the source of scorn against so-called "nerds" and other people classified as "uncool" by most of our society?
All I ask is that you subscribe to this blog, and check for updates, so that my work won't be in vain. Thank you!
Americans huddle in cliques, even after high-school.
Americans are highly distrustful of people outside their clique or circle of friends.
It's socially unacceptable to meet people you don't know in a normal atmosphere (grocery stores, shops, etc) whereas this is common-place in Europe / Russia and other countries.
"Breaking the ice" is just a term invented by Americans, and it doesn't require nearly as much effort elsewhere.
There is enormous peer pressure to conform to specific images and archetypes created by pop-culture, and that it's not nearly as bad in other countries as in the USA.
We try to boost ourselves with fake optimism, afraid people will see our faults, and this makes us socially insecure.
Even normal, non-assuming men get stigmatized as "creepy" if they try to approach a woman they don't know outside of a club / party / social setting, but this is normal behavior abroad. (Personally, I think this is a good example of Winston Wu being too subjective again. Anybody can come off as 'creepy' if you approach someone too strongly. However, this seems to be one of his thesis points in the book.)
It's more socially acceptable in Europe for men to be regular-friends with women, so women don't automatically assume men are trying to pick them up, therefore it's easier to chat and casually date.
Because of these points and other things, he says the dating scene in the U.S is far more difficult and awkward.
Winston also says Americans are extremely isolated and believe that the 95% of the rest of the world behave as they do, with their same tendencies, but this is a total myth.
I think Winston is looking at the rest of the world through somewhat rose-tinted glasses, because there are some human traits which you just can't get away from. However, I'm willing to bet some of these social problems are much, much worse here in the states.
What I found fascinating is that I never noticed these things until I started talking to European exchange students, and I noticed the drastic personality differences. While most Americans I know are shut off around people in public, Europeans seem quick to engage people in a very inclusive way, even in unlikely places. So, what can we learn from them?
In addition to trying to find a multi-cultural array of people to interview for this blog, the regular people I talk to around our bleak little town of Tucson, AZ will work as an experiment in itself: How receptive will people in non-social environments be to someone talking to them (and not trying to sell something)? How many people will ignore me, react with hostility, or how many people will be friendly and open to conversation? How many people will mace me in the face or tazer me in the balls? How much of an ass of myself could I potentially make? Most of these are very important pieces of data.
Other things I may do: See if adults really do pack together in cliques by doing things like interviewing the gaggles (is that a word?) of blonde-haired girls at my college, and other people who seem socially uniformed. I will also examine popular culture and TV and see if it really discourages diversifying your social life. Could American pop-culture be the source of scorn against so-called "nerds" and other people classified as "uncool" by most of our society?
All I ask is that you subscribe to this blog, and check for updates, so that my work won't be in vain. Thank you!
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