Stereotypes

Hello all!

So most of my blogs posts (minus the first two) have been about the American view of other people and how we stereotype people and how we are wrong.  I began to ponder, where do these stereotypes come from?  Why do we still have them today if we are supposedly a modern society?  I thought America was supposed to be a melting pot and we were supposed to accept everyone; but, we obviously don't.  Almost every person in this country comes from immigrants.  None of us are truly "American" so shouldn't we be more respectful to those from other countries and cultures?  This country alone is filled with so many different cultures and we have a hard time even accepting that.  Think of all the stereotypes that northerners have of southerners and vice versa.  Americans are extremely judgmental and critical of everyone.

I believe that the reason we create stereotypes is to categorize different types of people into different groups.  Humans are always trying to organize everything so they can store it in their brains and stereotypes enable us to tell the difference between ethnic groups.  People also create stereotypes to make themselves feel like they are better than other people.  For example, when the United States completed manifest destiny and pushed all of the Native Americans onto reservations.  In the eyes of those early Americans, the Indians were savages who needed help civilizing themselves.  Americans used this stereotype to justify what they knew was unfair.

I also believe that the reason we continue to have stereotypes today is because we keep teaching our children to judge other people and not just accept everyone for who they are.  I saw this tweet the other day and it really got me thinking:

https://twitter.com/Sume_Kalyan

If we are teaching our children to cringe at people just because they are different then why do we expect them to grow up and be kind people?  This five year old that @Sume_Kalyan is discussing is just bound to grow up into someone just like all of the other ignorant Americans I have been talking about.  There is something inherently wrong with how we Americans raise our children and it needs to change if we ever want our society to be better.

If you would like to learn more about stereotypes check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype

This tweet also reminded me of an article I read on CNN today about a transgender child who is no longer allowed to use the girls bathroom at her school because the faculty believe that it will make the other children uncomfortable.  Here is the article plus a picture of her:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/27/us/colorado-transgender-girl-school/index.html?hpt=hp_c5

This young child is only in first-grade and the staff of the school are already discriminating against her and teaching the other students to discriminate against her too.  Even if she is a little different, shouldn't we celebrate that she has realized who she is so early on and is so confident in being herself?  We also teach our children to dare to be different and express themselves but then in cases like this when they actually do express themselves, they are segregated and ridiculed.

If you ever decide to have children or you already do have them, I urge you to raise them to better than this.  Tell them that everyone is the same on the inside and that we should all be comfortable being ourselves.  Tell them not to ever make fun of someone just because they are different.  This way, the next generation can be better than the last and society will progress.

Your travel advisor,
Kinley

China

Ni hao!

Okay so today I am going to talk about China!  Just like my last couple posts, I would like to disprove some stereotypes that we Americans have of people who we just don't understand.  I think that Americans pretty much think that the Chinese are just those squinty-eyed people who eat dogs, are bad drivers and make all of our products for us.  While the product thing might be true, the other things are just ignorant and racist.  I have a cousin who is adopted from China and she does not fit any of these stereotypes as far as I know (although she is too young to drive).

First off, disproving the squinty eyes.  Yes, most Chinese people do tend to look like they have small eyes but that is just because of the way their eyelids are formed.  The asian eye tends to have an epicanthic fold and lack an upper eyelid which causes them to appear narrower in comparison to the typical caucasian eyelid.  Some asians go as far as to get surgery to create the second eyelid that most caucasians have (called a blepharoplasty).  I think there is something wrong with our society if asians feel pressured to get this surgery to fit in better.  They should be able to be themselves without incompetent Americans making fun of them.  I also think that Americans think that this smaller-looking eye means that the Chinese people cannot see as well as other races but I assure you that their sight is just as good as any other race's.  This goes for all asians not just the Chinese and I also think Americans need to become better at telling different asians apart but that is a discussion for a different time.

Here is picture of my cousin and her adorable asian eyes (not squinty at all):

(yes I know this sort of contradicts my eyesight rant but the only reason she wears glasses is because she didn't receive enough vitamins as an infant since she grew up in an orphanage)

Now, a discussion on the dog-eating.  While there are some people in China who eat dogs, these people are mostly Cantonese and more recently, the Chinese government has been restricting the consumption of dogs and is looking to possibly prohibit it for good in the not so distant future.  The majority of Chinese people view the consumption of dogs the same way that we do here the United States.  Dogs are domesticated and they are supposed to be our pets, not our food.  I would also like to point out that they eat dogs in places that we would never think of, such as Switzerland.  If you want to educate yourself more on the history of dog-eating check out this Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_meat

Ok so now for the driving bit.  What I have found is that only Chinese people raised in China are bad drivers, not ones raised here.  This is due to the huge population difference between China and the United States.  People who learned to drive in China are used to crazy, packed streets where they have weave in and out of other cars, pedestrians, animals, etc. but when they come here, they are still trying to drive like they did in China but they do not need to since our roads are much emptier.  While perusing the internet I found a band called Good Asian Drivers so I checked them out and here is one of their songs:

Okay, so they kind of suck but I thought their band name was cool so I thought I would get them a few more views.  Anyway, I hope you learned something about China or its people on this rant.  Here are a few pictures of some beautiful places in China that you may want to visit someday if you are not a racist incompetent like the Americans I was talking about:

http://pinterest.com/pin/491666484289215834/

http://pinterest.com/pin/238831586461140886/

http://pinterest.com/pin/499195939916401664/














Also here is the only song in Chinese that I know but I love it so you should check it out:

Your travel advisor,
Kinley

Palestine

A'salamu a'likom!

Okay so I know Palestine is not somewhere we would really want to go because of how dangerous it is there, but I wanted to talk about it anyway.  Due to the United States' close relationship with Israel, many Americans see Palestine as simply a small section of land that should belong to Israel and is filled with terrorists.  Just like my last post about Mexico I am going to prove that stereotype wrong.

The Palestinian people were living in the area currently occupied by Israel for centuries before the UN Partition Plan broke it up into Israel and Palestine.  They argued that Jewish people needed a homeland because they had been kicked out over 1000 years ago from that area; however, in those 1000 years the Palestinians had settled down and with the UN Partition Plan they were kicked out of the homes that their families had been living in for 1000 years.  The creation of Israel by the UN was just going to cause more tension and violence in the area and the UN should have seen that.  Here is a link to the wiki for the UN Partition Plan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Partition_Plan

So, while Palestine was not right in kicking the Jewish people out of the area back in 970 CE, two wrongs don't make a right.  Now, all the Palestinian people who have been displaced by the creation of Israel are living in refugee camps all over the Middle East.  This should not have been a huge problem since the camps were supposed to be temporary but it has been over 60 years since they moved into them.  I don't know about you but 60 years doesn't sound temporary to me.

<-- Can you imagine living in these conditions your whole life?  These are actually good conditions for Palestinian refugees!



http://www.cjournal.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/PalestinianRefugeesLebanon.jpg

Besides the fact that the Palestinians have been kicked out of their homes by the Israeli, the Palestinians who stayed in the territory that was supposed to be Palestine are constantly being attacked.  Israel keeps encroaching on Palestinian land and displacing more and more people.  They are determined to take over all of Palestine despite the actual United Nations decided borders in the original Partition Plan.  The Palestinian people in Palestine (not in refugee camps) are constantly being invaded by the Israeli army.  Imagine a whole line of tanks rolling down a neighborhood street and you are starting to get the picture.  The Israeli troops are not invading rebels, these people being attacked are families in their homes with children.

<-- Just your average day in the life of a Palestinian child.




http://pinterest.com/pin/247416573248864840/

Israel slowly taking over Palestine

http://images.alarabiya.net/israel-palestine_map_19225_2469.jpg


I think that Americans also see many of the Middle Eastern/Arab countries as under-developed or just desert which is not true.  There are some parts of Palestine that have remained beautiful even throughout the violence and bombings.  For example, here is a five star hotel located in Bethlehem, Palestine:

http://www.southtravels.com/middleeast/palestine/jacirpalaca/gifs/hotelview.jpg

Well I hope you learned something on this trip and that it wasn't too much of a rant.  I know it wasn't quite as happy as my other posts but I felt like it needed to be discussed since I feel so strongly about the issue.  Thanks for reading!

Your travel advisor,
Kinley

P.S. If you would like to read about something else that I feel strongly about check out this blog post:

http://yawpingmylifeaway.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-hundred-years.html

P.P.S. Here is a song to lighten the mood:

México

¡Hola!

Our next trip is to Mexico! I thought this would be a good second stop on our journey since I also speak Spanish and there are some things about Mexico I would like to clear up.  I think there is an unfair stereotype of Mexicans here in the United States and it really needs to end.  Mexicans are not just illegal alien day laborers who always take siestas, they are lovely, normal people.  Americans are too quick to judge others who they do not understand.  Mexico and its citizens have more to offer than cheap tacos, paint jobs, and drug cartels.  Today we will be exploring some beautiful aspects of Mexico and its culture.

The stereotype we are going to disprove is the food.  Mexican food does not consist of tacos and burritos like Taco Bell makes it out to be.  The food served at Taco Bell is Tex-Mex, a mixture of Mexican and Texan food and is nothing like traditional Mexican dishes.  Mexican food is actually very complex and contains many more ingredients than Tex-Mex does.  One popular dish is mole (pronounced MOE-lay).  It is a sauce that can be put over some kind of meat, usually chicken or turkey.  It can have up to 30 different ingredients but it always contains some kind of chili pepper and chocolate.  Although I have never tried it, I would definitely like to because it seems like an interesting combination of flavors.  Here is a picture of mole:

<--- Yum!




http://pinterest.com/pin/562457440932027843/


The next two stereotypes I am going to combine together to disprove at the same time.  Mexicans are not all day-laborers and Mexico is not completely full of drug cartels.  Mexicans are perfectly capable of holding high-paying, steady jobs like doctors and lawyers.  If all Mexicans were just day-laborers the society and economy would completely collapse.  Now for the drug cartels.  While there are a couple drug cartels that have become more powerful recently and have been in the news, there are some places in Mexico that are completely free of drug violence.  It is like saying the murder rate in Chicago represents all of the United States.  Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about the Mexican Drug War which includes a map of the affected provinces:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War#Effects_in_Mexico

I hope this has made y'all realize that Mexico is not what Americans make it out to be.  It is much more complex and developed than we are brought up to believe.  Here is one more picture of Mexico that should prove my theory that Mexico is a beautiful place:

A lovely sunset in Cancún.







http://pinterest.com/pin/52213676901962398/


Your travel advisor,
Kinley

P.S. If you would like to see an article that deals with why we have these terrible stereotypes of Mexicans in the first place click here:

http://yawpingmylifeaway.blogspot.com/2013/02/blame-it-on-mexicans.html

Deutschland

          http://pinterest.com/pin/469007748663985358/

            http://pinterest.com/pin/157696424423393290/

             http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/deutschland

Guten Tag!

My first exploration on this blog is Germany.  I do have a lot more background with Germany than many other places; but, I thought it would be a good place to start.  Part of my dad's side of the family is German although none of my living relatives are from there originally.  My parents lived in Germany for about a year before I was born when my dad was in the army.  I also speak German quite well.   

These images above are just some cool pictures of different locations in Germany that have architecture that I like.  The first one is Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.  I have always thought it was absolutely beautiful and I would love to actually visit it someday but for now I will just have to look at pictures.  Here is a link to the Wikipedia article if you would like to learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle

The second picture is of a really old town hall in Bamberg.  I don't really know very much about it but I liked the typical cottagey German architecture and the river flowing under it.  I think German architecture has charm that many other countries just can't compete with.  It looks like a fairytale and reminds me of Hansel and Gretel for some reason.  

The third and final picture is of Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor).  It used to be a city gate but now it is just a popular tourist attraction.  It used to be part of the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Berlin.  I love this picture in particular because it just looks so much more spectacular when it is lit up at night.  

One more thing I love about Germany is their folk music.  It is so peppy and just makes you want to do a hokey dance.  This is one of my personal favorites:

Your travel advisor,
Kinley

Join Me on my Journey

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my blog! Come join me as I traverse this immense globe we live on.  This earth and the beings who call it home it fascinate me and I enjoy learning things about them.  It amazes me that we are all so similar in our genetic makeup but all so different in our culture.  This blog is to learn about and appreciate our cultural differences.  Have fun exploring as I know I will!

Your travel advisor,
Kinley