Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Questions for my conservative friends.

I've always had questions about conservative american culture, since I'm an outsider. Even though I was born and raised among you, there are aspects of your culture that still wonder about.

1) Y'all drink hella milk. Not kidding. One of the things we talk about with each other when you're not around is how particular you are about your milk. Sometimes I find myself having to explain it to astounded foreigners. And when I travel with you to southern Europe, South America, or Asia, I often find myself having to talk white americans through the shock they experience when they find out the reality of milk around the world. Have you ever thought about traveling with your own milk supply?

2) When it comes to having rhythm, don't you think it's more of a nurture issue, rather than a nature issue? Don't you think it's something you can learn, with some persistence? Is it important to you that your kids have rhythm? Or do you see that as apart from your culture?

3) Are you concerned at all that minorities are angry all the time? Don't you ever want to get to the bottom of it?

4) Is it acceptable in your culture to show your displeasure at food that other people are eating? In my culture it's considered rude to say "yuck" or "how can you eat that?" but I've experienced it enough to suspect that you don't find it rude.

5) Why are you always leaving garbage in my car?

6) Are you glad to live in an integrated society? Would you go back to segregation if you could? Would it appeal to you at all to be able to raise your family in an all white setting?

7) Do you really trust the government to protect the rights of minorities given it's long history of discrimination? E.g., slavery, segregation, Japanese-American interntment, etc. Do you expect minorities to not be weary?

8) If all the undocumented workers were rounded up and deported, there would be a widespread crisis in the service and construction industries; the general economy would stall. Does it bother you that our economy is propped up by a caste of people with no legal rights?

9) If, in the future, the USA loses its status as a world superpower, would you ever consider emigrating to, for example, China or to a united Europe to make a better life for your kids? Would you consider giving up your culture or language so that your kids would assimilate better? Or would you prefer to live in an enclave? How long do you think it would take you to learn the new language?

10) Will you please teach me how to be rich? I want to know how you do that.

2 comments:

Micaela said...

sometimes you leave trash in my car. You must have a lot of white people riding in your car too. hehee

Word though! now if only someone would answer these questions honestly, esp. #10.

Myrna Villanueva said...

Have you heard of the term poverty psychosis? It is a psyche condition when an individual miserably tries very hard to become rich and greedy for fear of becoming poor again.

If you want to be rich, just talk to the people who know how to invest their money and become successful in doing it.