Culture!

The past few weeks, we've been talking about culture and how all of the different types of cultures interact. Culture universal shows us how many cultures have the same idea (weddings, funerals, etc.) but each culture has different "rituals" that go with it. After watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I realized how different my culture is from their Greek culture in the movie. Their family parties consisted of yelling, talking over each other, eating, eating, and more eating. My family parties consist of sitting in the backyard for a barbeque, telling stories, and playing football. We both have family parties, we just do things differently as different cultures. I also looked at the way they got married. The extended family would spit on the bride as she walked down the isle. The pastor spoke in all Greek and once they were married they had to take their first steps together as a couple around the alter. My aunt's wedding that I attended just a couple of months ago, was very laid back and calm. They walked down the isle, were married, and that was it.

I think it's really interesting learning and taking part in other cultures. One needs to have the culture clash and culture shock in their lives to completely understand the fact that everyone is different and just because one culture doesn't do it the same way that you're culture does it, doesn't mean by any means that they are wrong. Innovation, technology, and diffusion has played a huge role in the way many cultures are today. For the most part, it is because of these three things that a lot of cultures are linked together in some way. But on the other hand, I believe that ethnocentrism is something that can really hurt our cultures as a whole. It goes along with one culture thinking another culture is wrong just because they don't do things the same way. Judging a culture is the same as judging a person, it hurts the people involved especially when the person judging doesn't know anything about that specific culture. I think if more people would be open to letting in new and differnet ideas and cultures, our society would be a better place to live in and be apart of.