Thursday, February 5, 2009
Spit or Saliva?
When it is in your mouth it is saliva and therefore not disgusting, but once it exits your mouth it becomes spit and therefore repulsive. While I understand that this is caused by the views that society instills in us, and that there really is no difference, I still was disgusted by the spit on the spoon. As an American, we are taught to think certain things and find certain things disgusting. One example I have experienced besides the saliva, is the exposure of certain parts of our bodies. In America, we are told that certain parts of us are meant to be kept private. Well, in other countries this is not always so. My family vacations a lot and often times on beaches many women go topless. In the United States we view this is wrong and disgusting, but to them it is no big deal. At first it shocked me, but then I began to realize that they come from a different culture than I do and that to them it is completely normal. It has made me realize that traditions are not necessarily right or wrong, but that you should not judge a person just because of the culture they come from or their views.
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I agree. The thing that I think about when you talk about how in other cultures they jsut go topless, is that if any Americans were to go and live there, they would probably do the same exact thing(going topless) after being involved with the culture for a long time. as much as anyone would say that they wouldnt , they would because you just naturally just kind of conform to the society or culture you are around. good points you made:)
ReplyDeleteI think that whatever is the "norm" of our society or the society that we spend an amount of time in, we will adjust to them and eventually not think of doing something that is thought to be strange.
ReplyDeleteI think that this also relates to the Milgram study (why the Germans conformed) in a way. It was about Obedience but also conformity. I think that many people obeyed because they also wanted to conform with the rest of the society.
Because we live in America we definatly been rasied a certain way and spit is gross. I really don't know how I'd handle that situation that Sal was talking about with the spitting ang handshake, I supposed I'd put up with is because I wouldn't want to offend another culture.
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