#cultural differences

[tiyoin]

jade x reader x floyd

where they give reader swim lessons (they actually destroy readers one piece and cbat reader )

reader is pissed because they’re literally nakey???? and the assholes who caused it won’t fucking help????

ofc they throw you your now bikini (what’s left of one) and leave you to it.

you know what, fuck it. you put it on and storm out of the swimming area, pool? idk idc to elaborate where they are

and you’re stomping down the hallway, angry as a bull as you silently pray that the ‘bikini’ pieces stay in tact.

you ignore the whistles, the purrs, the cat calls and sway away a hand or two. you’re on a mission and NO horny highschool boy will EVER catch you lacking. never again.

slamming open a door while hiding your body, you asked “where’s ashengrotto”

they point you to two classes over. slamming the door again, a few students peeked out of their classes as you walked by.

slamming open the door, this time not bothering to hide yourself, you call for azul.

“ashengrotto here now!”

he gave you an incredulous look before he quickly got up and walked towards you. closing the door behind him you BLASTED him

“TELL YOUR FUCK DOGS TO LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE YOU HEAR! THOSE SHIT STAINS ARE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE AND YOU BETTER TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY NEW UNIFORM. WHAT IF I TELL THE WHOLE WORLD ABOUT YOUR TWO MISCHIEVOUS EMPLOYEES HUH?? THEN WHAT”

“and why are you telling me this? i’m not their baby sitters” he sneered

ooooo you wanted to punch him. you wanted to punch him reallll bad

“tell them to piss off”

“tell them yourself” he smirked slightly, one arm holding up his other as he motioned behind you

“they’re right behind me, aren’t they”

he nodded.

without missing a beat, you spin around, loaded your leg, and fired your foot right into one of their crotches.

the crowded cringed as the great and mighty leech collapsed into the ground.

now, i’m guessing no one ever informed them of what ‘crotch shots’ were. but now they do. 🤷🏻

and before the other could react or hear his twin hit the floor, you kicked him too.

spinning to azul, you pulled him by his tie as you heard gasping behind you.

“you’re next fuck-tard” pushing him aside, you stormed off as people cleared a path for you.

of course your reign of terror wasn’t over as you punched a column as you passed it. cursing insults at them still before you stalked off towards your lair. (ramshackle)

one would think the octotrio would be out for blood, ready to make you a another name in their records.

but the three of them fell in love.

—

#cultural differences #‘oh there’s a kick to this one’ #it’s definitely because you’re a girl #twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #azul x reader #floyd x reader #floyd leech x reader #twisted wonderland jade #jade x reader #jade leech x reader

[thehmn]

I was listening to a US based podcast where people send in their stories and a guy reads them. After a while I noticed that a lot of the people would mention their height and weight like “I’m only (height) and (weight) so I knew I couldn’t defend myself” or “I’m a (height) (weight) guy so I’m not easily scared” and since then I’ve noticed North Americans do this a lot. I’ve also started noticing it in fictional stories by Americans where the height and weight of characters come up more often than I’d expect.

I follow several Americans on YouTube and I know the height and weight of most of them and even a few people they know because they’ll throw it in when it’s relevant to a story. I haven’t noticed Brits and Australians use specific measurements like that unless they’re talking about their health. It’s definitely not something people do here in the Scandinavian countries unless they’re exceptionally tall or short but even then it’s more like “he was really tall” “I’m a chubby girl so I knew the bed wouldn’t be able to support my weight”

And now I’m like, is this actually an American thing or am I just seeing things? Have other people noticed this or is it just a coincidence that I’ve come across Americans who care about the exact measurements a lot?

#humontalks #cultural differences

[mod2amaryllis]

immediately went to comment "do you think the honey gouramis ever explore each other's bodies" but idk if reddit would go for that one

#cultural differences #m2a #fish tag #fishblr

[writingwithcolor]

[Running Commentary] Zombies are Zombies: Cultural Relativism, Folklore, and Foreign Perspectives

She obviously started getting into media in Japan, and (from my research into Japanese media and culture), Japan’s movies about zombies are mostly comedic, since due to traditional funerary practices the idea of zombies bringing down society is ridiculous to a lot of Japanese people. 

Rina: OP, this you? https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-zombies/

Marika: Counterpoint: Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. The Evil Within. 

Rina: Literally all the grody horror game franchises that people forget were developed and written by Japanese people because the characters have names like “Leon Kennedy” and “Sebastian Castellanos” 

~ ~ ~

Based on the reception we received the last time we did one of these, the Japanese moderator team returns with another running commentary. (They’re easier to answer this way) (Several of Marika’s answers may be troll answers)

Our question today pertains to foreign perspectives on folklore—that is, how people view folklore and stories that aren’t a part of their culture. CW: for anything you’d associate with zombies and a zombie apocalypse, really.

Keep reading for necromancy, horror games, debunking the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Hong Kong jiangshi films, Japanese disaster prep videos, and Vietnamese idol pop...

Essentially, in my story there’s an organization who wants to end the world. They think this one woman in particular, a woman of mixed Vietnamese (irreligious, Kinh) and Japanese descent who spent her formative years in Japan, is the person to do it because she’s (for lack of a better term) a necromancer; powers are semi-normal in this world. She prefers not to use her powers overall, but when she does she mostly talks to ghosts and spirits that are giving people issues. She could technically reanimate a corpse but she wouldn’t because she feels that would be morally wrong, not to mention she couldn’t start a zombie apocalypse in the traditional sense (plague, virus, etc.) in the first place. 

(Marika (M): Your local public health officials would like to assure necromancers that reviving the dead will not provoke a zombie apocalypse. This is because necromancy is a reanimation technique, and not a pathogenic vector. Assuming that the technique does not release spores, airborne viruses, gasses, or other related physical matter that can affect neighboring corpses in a similar way, there should be no issue. However, necromancers should comply with local regulations w/r to permitting and only raise the dead with the approval of the local municipality and surviving family.)

M: I think it makes sense for most people of E. Asian descent, including Japanese and Vietnamese people, to find it culturally reprehensible to reanimate the dead. I imagine the religious background of your character matters as well. What religion(s) are her family members from? How do they each regard death and the treatment of human remains? Depending on where she grew up, I’m curious on how she got opportunities to practice outside specialized settings like morgues.

M: It’s true, space in Japan is at a premium, even for the dead. You note that most of Japan cremates, but, surely, it must have occurred to you that if there aren’t that many bodies in Japan to raise…she doesn’t exactly have much opportunity to practice with her powers, does she? I yield to our Vietnamese followers on funerary customs in Vietnam, but you may want to better flesh out your world-building logic on how necromancy operates in your story (And maybe distinguish between necromancy v. channeling v. summoning v. exorcisms). 

She obviously started getting into media in Japan, and (from my research into Japanese media and culture), Japan’s movies about zombies are mostly comedic, since due to traditional funerary practices the idea of zombies bringing down society is ridiculous to a lot of Japanese people. 

Rina (R): OP, this you? https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-zombies/

M: Counterpoint: Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. The Evil Within. 

R: Literally all the grody horror game franchises that people forget were developed and written by Japanese people because the characters have names like “Leon Kennedy” and “Sebastian Castellanos” 

R: And yes, the Tofugu article uses Resident Evil and those games to support its theory, with the reason that they are set in the West. But that only suggests that Japanese people consider zombies a Western thing, not that Japanese people consider zombies nonthreatening if they were to exist. 

M: Same with vampires - series like Castlevania also use Western/ European settings and not “Vampires in Japan '' because vampires just aren't part of our folklore.

(M: Also, realistically, these series deal with individuals who quickly perish after their bodies are used as hosts for the pathogen in question, rather than the pathogen reanimating a corpse. Although the victims are initially alive, they soon succumb to the pathogen/ parasite and their organic matter then becomes an infectious vector for the disease. It should be noted, infecting ordinary, living humans with viruses to grant them elevated powers, is not only a major violation of consent and defies all recommendations made by the Belmont Report (in addition to a number of articles in the Hague Convention w/r to the use of WMDs) and is unlikely to be approved by any reputable university’s IRB committee. This is why the Umbrella Corporation are naughty, naughty little children, and honestly, someone should have assassinated Wesker for the grant money.)

R: wwww

From what I know Vietnam didn’t have a zombie movie until 2022. 

R: Do you mean a domestically produced zombie movie? Because Vietnamese people have most certainly had access to zombie movies for a long time. The Hong Kong film Mr. Vampire (1985) was a gigantic hit in Southeast Asia; you can find a gazillion copies of this movie online with Viet subs, with people commenting on how nostalgic this movie is or how they loved it as a kid. 

M: “Didn’t have a [domestic] zombie movie” is not necessarily the same thing as “Would not have made one if the opportunity had arisen.” None of us here are personifications of the Vietnamese film industry, I think it’s safe to say we couldn’t know. Correlation is not causation. It’s important to do your research thoroughly, and not use minor facts to craft a narrative based on your own assumptions.

(R: …Also, I did find a 2017 music video for “Game Over” by the Vietnamese idol Thanh Duy which features… a zombie apocalypse.)

(R: The MV has a very campy horror aesthetic and zombie backup dancers (which I love, everyone please watch this lol). But the scenes at the beginning and end where people are biting their fingers watching a threatening news report clearly establish that the zombies are considered a threat.)

So at one point, she laughs about the idea and remarks how ridiculous it is to think zombies could end the world. What I’m struggling with are other ways to show her attitude on the issue because I’d assume most non-Japanese readers wouldn’t get why she thinks like that. Are there any other ways to show why she thinks this way, especially ones that might resonate more with a Japanese reader?

R: The problem is this does not resonate in the first place. Your line of thinking is too Sapir-Whorf-adjacent. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, otherwise known as linguistic relativity theory, claims that language shapes cognition—that you can’t conceive of something if you can’t express it in your language. This is a very weak theory that you can easily bring evidence against: think of the last time you felt an emotion you had a hard time putting into words; just because you didn’t have the language for it doesn’t mean that you didn’t feel it, nor does it mean that you won’t be able to understand or recognize it if you feel it again. Similarly, it’s not a sound assumption to say that if some kind of subject matter does not exist in a culture, then people of that culture couldn't possibly conceive of it. This excerpt from linguist Laura Bailey sums it up quite well. 

M: Just because ghosts may be more culturally relevant doesn’t mean that zombies (or vampires, or whatever) are nonexistent in a Japanese or Vietnamese person’s imagination when it comes to horror and disaster.

R: Really,  if anything, Japanese people are much more attuned to how easily a society’s infrastructure can be destroyed by a disruptive force without adequate preparation. Japan is natural disaster central. A Japanese person would know better than anyone that if you aren’t prepared for a zombie epidemic—yeah it’s gonna be bad. 

M: Earthquakes, tsunami, typhoon, floods: Japan has robust disaster infrastructure out of necessity. 防災 or bousai, meaning disaster preparedness is a common part of daily life, including drills at workplaces, schools, and community organizations. Local government and community agencies are always looking for ways to make disaster and pandemic preparedness relevant to the public.

M: Might “zombie apocalypse prep as a proxy for disaster prep” be humorous in an ironic, self-deprecating way? Sure, but it’s not like Japanese people are innately different from non-Japanese people. Rather, by being a relatively well-off country practiced at disaster preparation with more experience than most parts of the world with many different types of disasters (and the accompanying infrastructure), it likely would seem more odd to most Japanese people within Japan to not handle a zombie apocalypse rather like might one handle a combination of a WMD/ chemical disaster+pandemic+civil unrest (all of which at least some part of Japan has experienced). Enjoy this very long, slightly dry video on COVID-19 safety procedures and preparedness using the framing device of surviving a zombie apocalypse.

M: Living in Los Angeles, I’ve often experienced similar tactics. We do a fair amount of advance and rehearsed disaster prep here as well. In elementary school, the first and last days of class were always for packing and unpacking home-made disaster packs, and “zombie apocalypse” simulations have been around since I was in middle school for all kinds of drills, including active shooter drills, like the one shown in this LAT article. The line between “prepper” and “well prepared” really comes down to degree of anxiety and zeal. So, it wouldn’t be just Japanese people who might not be able to resonate with your scene. The same could be said for anyone who lives somewhere with a robust disaster prevention culture.

M: A zombie apocalypse is not “real” in the sense of being a tangible threat that the majority of the world lives in fear of waking up to (At least, for the mental health of most people, I hope so). Rather, zombie apocalypse narratives are compelling to people because of the feelings of vague, existential dread they provoke: of isolation, paranoia, dwindling resources, and a definite end to everything familiar. I encourage you to stop thinking of the way Japanese people and non-Japanese people think about vague, existential dread as incomprehensible to each other. What would you think about zombies if they actually had a chance of existing in your world? That’s probably how most Japanese people would feel about them, too.

#Youtube #asks #japanese #vietnamese #cultural differences #cultural relativism #linguistic relativity #zombies #sci fi #science fiction #necromancy #death #funerary customs #funeral #ghosts #vampires #folklore #natural disasters #disaster preparedness #rina says stan thanh duy #writeblr

[the-wandering-mage]

5+1 Danny Phantom x DC universe prompt

Five times The Teen Titans thought they were fighting a new bad guy and the one time they realized they were just trying to make a friend.

Had this idea don't know if I'll ever fully write it but here it goes for anyone else to use. As is Fanon ghosts socialize by fighting. Dani is sent to a dimension (clockwork identified as the safest for her or because it has a lot of young heros for her to make friends with and not enough healthy ecto to create ecto ghosts) her safety while Danny fights the whole war with the GIW and there is some political upheaval about how Danny is handling it. Danny doesn't want his child in the middle of it. Dani is sent with an emergency communicator, Cujo, a backpack full of things to help her, and most importantly a case with healthy ecto.

Dani wares a medical device that gives her transfusions of ecto and nutrients her human body needs to keep her form stable. Idk if a belt or a arm cuff I like the idea of better. I briefly thought a crown belt combo for the aesthetic but a princess crown would be really impractical.

So, to the meat of the story. Dani tries to make friends the only way she knows how from both her instincts and time spent in the realms before being basically witsec'd, she picks fights with them. Stealing their stuff to get them to chase her ect. A lot of taunting and shit talking and generally being a pain. Maybe even stealing food from stores because she needs it and knows Danny will pay them back. The teen titans think she's a villain she thinks they are really bonding. The more she evades them the more they get frustrated and uping the ante. They get confused when she actually helps them take out an actually baddy. Then she steals Robin's cape and they are right back to being pissed with her.

Then one day during one of their "spars" Starfire or someone else gets a lucky shot on her medical device which of course they think is just villain tech or something. Or alternatively she could just be running low and needs to refill if you want to be boring. Her medical device gives a warning beep and she calls time out. Now anytime she'd ever called time out it was a respected rule in the realms. In a play fight you call break everything stops so she is completely caught off guard when her new friends don't stop. They keep going and it's not fun anymore it's scary.

She starts crying and she gets hurt and doesn't understand why and is begging them to tell her why they are being mean. The team at first is annoyed and scoffs while thinking they finally got the upper hand and she is just trying to trick them with crocodile tears. Then she starts destabilizing. Then they start to freak out and realize that it's real. She calls Cujo to fetch her medkit with her ecto. They treat her and inbetween sobs and trying to help what they now realize is a scared little girl that they get she thought they were playing. Starfire and Robin are the first to figure out it's a cultural/species difference. The whole team feels super guilty.

Then scared when Dad Danny and Tucker show up having gotten an alert her medical device has malfunctioned. Danny explains everything and apologizes about the trouble. The team apologies for their side of things. Dani ends up with friends in the end and the team takes care of her and nicknames her princess. Funny beginning heartache middle and happy ending.

#danny phantom crossover #dp x dc crossover #5+1 things #fanfiction prompts #danny phantom #teen titans #teen titans crossover fic ideas #ghosts fight to socialize #i thought we were friends #angst with a happy ending #misunderstandings #Dani with an I #friends punch friends in the face #violence is how you show you care #cultural differences #cultural misunderstandings #ghost king danny #ghost princess Dani

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #4148:

There is a huge problem with American fans demanding that everything has to always carter to them and their social issues.

They see a show with a character who is a cop or similar occupation, who are shown in a positive light, and they instantly scream it's propaganda. When in the country the show comes from there aren't any problems with corruption like in the US.

Or they see an anime and whine about not having more of a diverse cast in regards of ethnicity to carter to a wider audience, when the show is supposed to specifically carter to Asians and so the cast is Asian.

The same goes when a show specifically talks about social issues in a different country, where many vocals American fans either try to make it about the US or dismiss it and even make fun of it as if it weren't a real problem when it does not reflect their personal experiences.

And that same problem happens in fanworks as well, where non-American fans get hate for making fanworks that American's deem problematic in their cultural view as if non-American have any reason to know what might be going on in the US at the moment.

I'm sorry that things aren't going well in the US and you all have the right to talk about the issues that you have. But stop expecting everyone else to carter to you in fandom spaces. Other countries also have problems and not everyone in the world can keep up or cares what might be going on in the US when they do not live there.

#ask box submission #fandom problem 4148 #cultural differences #other fans

[witchofthesouls]

Guys, what if the TFP verse didn't have grocery stores and supermarkets?!

If the Cybertronian diet is limited to liquid from crystal Energon, then they would be completely used to a great beast of a combination between Home Depot, IKEA, and Kay Jewelers. Like a build your own customizable personal fuel station or for the department. Maybe there's minor cultivation of different kinds of crystals that act as herbs and spices equivalent. Look at the displays of crystal decor. While it's Energon, the structures are too unstable or deemed unusable for consumption to be sold (different story for the lowest castes trapped in poverty though)

The 'bots are familiar with a job site providing room and board as well as picking up prepared food from restaurants at different price points. But if Team Prime actually looked into the history of agriculture on Earth, the immense scale and absolute variety would shock them speechless. Optimus would fall into a deep tunnel of botanical science versus the culinary arts and how a lot of veggies are basically the same plant that's been curated to enhance very specific features.

There's a new game at the base and road, it's called "Can you eat this?"

(This actually starts a lot of "lively discussions" between the kids because of cultural differences, family histories, and geographic/regional dishes and traditons.)

And if the kids ever needed to do a report on animals or plants or food, then they would receive full marks.

If the 'bots ever get enough fuel to use a holomatter, then the kids would get the delight of seeing:

Teaching Optimus how to select a good watermelon. The man is in deep concentration as he eyes for a "sun spot, a creamy other side, and a good-sounding thump."

June and Ratchet having a hissy and very heated argument over what's inside the shopping cart. The cart fills and empties between them.

Arcee staring down the produce that is and isn't organic, and then trying to figure out the difference between oranges and grapefruits without breaking them open

Bumblebee buzzing around the honey products and sweets to make puns and jokes. He's having a blast in the personal care aisles, especially with the masks and Burt's Bees.

Bulkhead is entranced by the inside Starbucks and the meat department. He's watching the baristas and counter workers deftly move to produce a new thing. He wants to learn to make a sandwich and a Frappuccino for Miko.

#transformers #transformer prime #tfp #culture clash #cultural differences #cybertronian culture #optimus prime #optimus #ratchet #bulkhead #arcee #bumblebee #jack darby #miko nakadai #raf esquivel #june darby #maccadam #my thoughts #my writing

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Tumblr, We Need To Talk

So multiple times now, posts that I have written, completely free of any sense of anger at all, have been interpreted by folks here - not just as angry - but as malicious. It has now happened enough times that we need to address the biases at hand here.

I am three things that are relevant for this discussion: I am Jewish. I am Italian. And I am Scottish.

These are three cultures that feature "loudness" as a positive trait. What do I mean by that?

I mean arguing, debate, discussion at my home growing up was louder than a kindergarten field trip to the zoo. Louder than a metal concert's mosh pit. Louder than the conure room at a bird shelter.

I am a loud, boisterous person. That's just who I am. With those three cultural backgrounds, I can't even help it. On more than one occasion, someone has interpreted my tendency for the dramatic, my eagerness, and my enthusiasm as being "too much". In fact, it is quite a point of trauma for me, the number of times that specific rejection has occurred.

But to me, I wasn't doing anything wrong! I was acting as my family acted, as people from my culture acted, as those around me in other situations acted. In Judaism, arguing is even seen as emotion-free, because interpersonal debate is how we learn and grow. Even the most stringent and austere Jewish groups will feature a loudly arguing table of scholars in the Beit Midrash. Italian dinners are filled with singing and shouting for joy. Being Scottish means yelling at everything and then yelling at it again. This was, and is, my life. It was loud. It was emotional. It was excitement.

Online, tone indicators are even worse, with many people easily being misunderstood in a given situation. Hell, there are probably those of you reading this now who are reading a higher level of emotion and anger into my words than is actually there. That added complication has now lead to multiple occurrences of this misunderstanding.

This isn't limited to the cultures I come from, of course! The anger and excitement and enthusiasm found in Black culture has been weaponized against it for as long as racism has existed (y'all can ask @ladyraekingmaker more about that). In fact, lower class Black Women in the United States were often perceived negatively for being loud and having their private lives carried out in public (because they did not have access to private spaces). Same for different cultural norms in other places, from Persia/Iran to parts of Latin America and more.

Indeed, loudness, anger, and tone are heavily tied to how different cultures are perceived. Calmness, stoicism, and a lack of "emotionalness" is a highlight of WASPy cultures, famously - "white anglo-saxon protestant" if you're not familiar. Being more "low key" and less expressive was considered high class, being less so was low class. And that still continues today - from the snide comments of tumblr anon's and ex friends, to the literal policing of impoverished communites of color for their celebrations and community gatherings.

The perception of emotion and passion as a "bad" thing is 100% tied to white supremacy. Full stop. In fact, policing people for being "angry" at certain things was a great way to shut down discussion of many important issues, that deserved anger - things like racism, sexism, and homophobia. Anger is a good, important, and necessary emotion - and being emotional in general is a way many people use to emphasize their own points and indicate how much they care about a subject. It's necessary, and it's good. Anger, emotion, excitement, these are good things.

It is better for someone to be angry and up front with you, allowing you to learn and grow as a person, than to bullshit you and mollycoddle you into a state of complacency.

So, that means that for many people reading this, you probably never really thought of how your reaction to loud, or emotional, or dramatic, or excitable people was related to upholding social norms. That's okay! It's not a big deal! We are all born with blind spots and things we are ignorant of that we have to understand and tackle. Growing up is something we never stop doing.

But I'm not magically going to stop being excitable, loud, and emotional. And I'm not going to magically stop being myself. While in person, my tone and facial expressions would help others to at least see that I am not mad but excited; here, you're going to have to take me at my word.

If I am angry, you will know it. It will be extremely, painfully obvious. I might even explicitly say it. But the fact remains is that, every time I have gotten (frankly, condescending) anons in my inbox telling me to "calm down", I haven't been angry at all. And that is a cultural bias a lot of you have to examine in yourselves. By policing how people - not just me - on how they talk and express themselves, you are upholding white supremacy. And you need to stop.

I am too much for some people. That's okay! If I am, you are free to go. No one has to follow me. But I am not going to minimize myself just to make some people comfortable, especially when I am doing nothing wrong. And if you continue to insist that I am, you are missing the point of this post.

Stop worshiping the empty alter of stoicism, of emotionlessness, of quietude. It's not how most humans act. And it shouldn't be, because emotions exist for a reason. That reason? Is communication.

And if you're still not convinced, just get invited to a Pesach seder. Good luck with that being anything close to "calm".

~ Meig

#emotion #logic #cultural differences #white supremacy #tone policing #not dinosaurs #this post is cosigned by my friend who is a cultural historian thanks

[sawboyx3]

Dís and Thorin actually should look really similar and so when Dís comes to Erebor, Bilbo sees her in the halls and says "hello darling🥰" bc he doesn't realize at first glance that it's her ☠️☠️☠️

And she's super fucking confused but just assumes it's a hobbit thing, and then like. 5 minutes later when Bilbo is doing whtvr he's doing, he just. Thinks. And then. Realizes.

And freaks the fuck out and tries to find her cuz "oh my god yeah, Thorin said his sister was coming soon how could I be so stupid oh my god I must look insane I hope I didn't offend her-"

And Dís and Thorin are just talking and catching up and Bilbo walks in super embarrassed and Dís greets him with a "Hello darling🥰" bc she assumes it's hobbit customs to say that.

Now Thorin is confused and Bilbo freaking tf out bc he thinks he's being made fun of and Dís is just sorta. Chilling and having a great time

#the hobbit #bilbo baggins #dis durin #thorin oakenshield #everyone lives/nobody dies #silly ideas #cultural differences #The Hobbit #Rant #Drabble?

[the-catboy-minyan]

when people say "death to america" do you assume they mean kill every non-native in the united states? Or do you suddenly understand the concept being communicated then?

you know what, does does give more context to why people think calling for the death of Israel is okay. now, I can explain why that's still a fucked upthing to say:

1) most people who say "death to America" are Americans, there's a massive difference between calling for the death of your own country as a privileged citizen of that country, calling for its death as a discriminated citizen of that country, and for calling for the death of a country you never even set foot in.

the best comparison I can come up with is: you will call your sibling a bitch when they're acting rude to you or others, but you'll be hella upset if a stranger decides to swear at your sibling.

the stranger is making assumptions on your sibling's character based on one or a few negative interactions, and have no idea what they're really like as a person.

you (most likely) have known your sibling since you/they were born. you have a clear image of who they are in your head based on many different interactions. when you curse them after they acted out, you're calling them out on their behavior while being emotional. your sibling will most likely recognize that, and while they may get offended and hurt (depends on your relationship), they're not going to assume you have bad intentions at heart.

while a country isn't a person, its citizens are, most Americans will recognize the intention behind other Americans saying "death to America", but you can't assume Israelis will read "death to Israel" with the same mindset, especially when it's not said hy one of their own. ESPECIALLY when most of them have a history of being persecuted for their identity as Jews (saying most since not all Israelis are Jewish and I can't speak for others), and when there are people alive at this moment calling for the actual death of all Israelis.

2) there's a massive difference between American and Israeli history. I'm not an expert in history, so I can't reliably give examples, but for startes Jews are native to Israel while Americans were originally European colonizers.

you're looking at Israeli history from an American lense, and making comparisons between events that have wildly different historical contexts. American culture is extremely black and white and heavily influenced by christianity, you're interpreting the conflict as "evil white colonizers (like those first European colonizers)" versus "helpless indigenous noble savages (like those Native Americans)", this is just not the reality of the conflict.

3) if the message is being read as a call for genocide by Jews, there's a high chance that means their cultural history is giving the sentence context that you don't understand.

people are telling you "the thing you're saying has negative implications", and your response is "but I meant it THAT way, you meed to see it from MY perspective". I'd suggest taking a step back and see it from their perspective.

anyways 6/10, thanks for the context, still a call for genocide.

#asks #anon hate lmao #6/10 #antisemitism #antisemitism on tumblr #cultural differences

[yearningwitherrors]

Imagine there was a version of basketball that was a hundred times more expensive than normal basketball, maybe with fancy equipment and special machinery to help, and the rules would be kinda different. Everybody you knew played the normal basketball, you remember playing it in school. You knew that there are some rich people who play the Fancy Basketball, but there are so few of those so when you use the word "basketball" among your peers, you obviously mean the normal basketball, because the Fancy Basketball is just such a weird special case.

Now, imagine, that this was the case just in your region. Outside of your region, people only know the Fancy Basketball, which they of course just call basketball, and there also, it is the privilege of the rich few. And it would of course carry the all the associations that a rich persons sport would carry. To them, basketball has an air of opulence and decadence. You see comments like "take a look at this rich fuck who is so out of touch he thinks everybody has the money to play basketball".

This is basically how seeing skiing being discussed online feels to an Estonian.

#sport #class #money #cultural differences #estonia

[useless-catalanfacts]

Everyone in this country is talking about what happened in the Coldplay concert in Barcelona (Catalonia's capital city), and honestly I must say it's very funny.

As we've joked about before, Catalan people in music concerts always climb on each other in the way of castellers (traditional Catalan "human castles/towers"). Well, a girl was doing a small version of it (it was only two people!!), and Chris Martin (Coldplay's singer) stopped the concert to admire it and said "it's the best thing I've ever seen at a concert".

Chris, this is nothing!

He's impressed by a 2-people tall pilar. It's funny to us because this is what castellers look like in festivities in Catalonia:

There can be structures of only 1 person in each floor (called a pilar) which is what people do in music concerts, or there can be other kinds of castells with more people. Here's some of the best ones I've found on a quick Google search:

Before anyone misunderstands the situation, we're not laughing at Chris Martin in mean spirit, we know he's not Catalan so he just had never seen this before. But it's funny to see something that for us is so normal amaze a foreigner.

Well, Chris, if you want to learn to climb I'm sure any of the colles castelleres (castle builder groups) will be more than happy to teach you!

#to be fair to him now that i look at it it's true we are a little bit crazy #castellers #tradicions #catalunya #coldplay #chris martin #catalonia #barcelona #concert #castells #human towers #traditions #cultures #culture #cultural differences #music concert #europe #catalan #catalan culture #coses de la terra

[otgo-brooklyn]

I know its not art, but here is my contribution rant to the Russian!Ice HC:

His Name; So normally just naming your kid 'Tom', as an American, even now, is pretty unusual- its mostly Thomas that then gets shortened into 'Tom' or another nickname. HOWEVER, in Russia there is a name Toma, Toma traditionally (from my family's regional background atleast) it means 'twin', which would also push for the Sarah Kazansky is Ice's sibling HC as well.

During the immigration process, especially during the 80s or before, many times due to not having immediate translation available, names were translated based on sound. For example: My grandfather who immigrated in the 70s has a different spelling for his last name than my great-uncle who immigrated at the same time, so things like this happening in immigration offices isnt inaccurate

Therefore; its perfectly realistic that at an immigration office, when Ice said his name was Toma, based on the regional dialect, it could have easily sounded like Tom, hence his full name being 'Tom' (with Sarah's being the equivalent to Sasha, or even a more Russian pronunciation of 'Sara')

Not only that, but the Russian origin could explain why he appears so standoffish, and a little out of the social loop- with Slider acting as some sort of protector. They would have been in the height of the Cold War with rising tensions, so of course Ice would've wanted to hide that portion of him, but America is also a HUGE culture shock to even some Americans. So you have Ice who is attempting to assimilate, but still doesn't understand to the fullest, and English is hard, so it makes sense for Sliders protectiveness/defense and Ice's distant social ability.

His Call Sign; so we know Ice got his Call Sign due to being an 'iceman' up in the air, and while this is true for some pilots, if Ice is from Russia, the most likely chance is he is trying to remember how to actually fly the plane/jet, because American aviators and Russian aviators don't learn on the same aircraft, they're notably different- ESPECIALLY in the 80s- so his 'ice cold' persona in the air could most likely be him concentrating to the best of his ability to keep both him and his RIO alive.

Plus, the last name 'Kazansky' is incredibly popular in Russia, so even if Ice isnt from Russia himself it isnt inaccurate to say that he had Russian/Slavic ancestry

( Ice teaching Baby!Bradley Russian when watching him and Bradley remembering/becoming slightly fluent- can understand perfectly has trouble speaking- because kids pick up languages like sponges to water)

(Ice telling Mav how much he loves him in Russian)

(Ice making delicious traditional Russian/Slavic food for him, Mav, and Bradley)

If I missed any please let me know!

#Iceman #Slider #lgbtqia #tom iceman kazansky #Russian Tom Kazansky #russia #cold war #top gun fandom #top gun maverick #top gun 1986 #bradley rooster bradshaw #headcanon #cultural differences #ice x mav #iceman x maverick #icemav #ron kerner #slider #Ron Kerner #aviation #russian

[pratchettquotes]

Behind him a voice said, GOOD MORNING.

The king turned.

"Hallo," he said. "You'd be--"

DEATH, said Death.

The king looked surprised.

"I understood that Death came as a three-headed giant scarab beetle," he said.

Death shrugged. WELL, NOW YOU KNOW.

"What's that thing in your hand?"

THIS? IT'S A SCYTHE.

"Strange-looking object, isn't it?" said the pharaoh. "I thought Death carried the Flail of Mercy and the Reaping Hook of Justice."

Death appeared to think about this.

WHAT IN? he said.

"Pardon?"

ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THE GIANT BEETLE?

Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

#king teppicymon xxvii #DEATH #pyramids #discworld #terry pratchett #ancient egypt #pharaohs #cultural differences #rituals #religion #belief #afterlife #expectations #first impressions #logistics #now you know #it's a scythe #long quote

[bethanydelleman]

Okay, so this is the post where I defend first cousin marriage, which is featured in Mansfield Park, Sense & Sensibility, and also comes up in Pride & Prejudice (I mean Anne de Bourgh and Mr. Darcy, Mr. Collins is a distant cousin to Elizabeth, at least 2 degrees removed, Mr. Elliot in Persuasion is another second cousin, though his line about Anne not changing her name might be the most cringy pickup line in romance history).

Firstly, 1st cousin marriage, in general is a squick NOT genetically dangerous. Yes, the Hapsburgs did happen, but they were intermarrying like crazy and within a very small dating pool. For most people, the genetic danger is equal to a woman over 35 having a baby. Negligible.

You also have to consider why cousin marriage was a good idea. Yes, you want to maintain wealth within a family, but more than that, women are vulnerable in marriage. When divorce laws are strict, and even running away from abuse is heavily frowned upon (just see The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) it becomes very important to choose prudently. Now who should you trust not to be abusive? The man you met at six balls in heavily chaperoned settings or cousin Charles, who you've known since birth and who has always been kind to you? I'm going with Charles. And you have more allies (hopefully) in that situation. You can go to your uncle for help if something is going wrong. You have an established network.

You can see why the overly cautious and continually neglected and verbally abused Fanny Price doesn't want to chance it on the wider world! She knows Edmund about as well as a human can know another human.

Now I'm sure this didn't always work perfectly, it certainly didn't for Eliza Brandon, but I can really see the logic behind it especially in Regency England.

In most Western countries, first cousin marriage just seems weird, but it's probably because we have such large dating pools these days and much longer dating periods (usually). People don't marry in a matter of weeks, they often date for years. With the benefits of cousin marriage fairly incomprehensible, we tend to focus on the risks.

Also, we have to remember that these people were not raised being told it was wrong, it wouldn't be gross to them. In fact, in Mansfield Park the idea that it would be a real fear for Fanny to marry one of the sons comes up more than once (at the ball we are told onlookers might have thought Sir Thomas was raising Fanny as a wife for his second son). In Frankenstein, Victor's parents specifically call Elizabeth his cousin instead of sister, assumably because they shipped those two crazy kids at five years old.

Anyway, many cultures still today prefer or practice first cousin marriage. The genetic risk increase is very small (it raises from about 2% to 4%) and we now have genetic testing as well. While it may be gross to you, it is not wrong or immoral, it is a difference. I can see why women might consider it a safer and desirable option.

I'm bringing this up not just because I read way too many posts about how gross the ending of Mansfield Park is to people, but because many people alive today are married to their first cousins and if you meet one, please be civil.

#jane austen #mansfield park #pride and prejudice #sense and sensibility #fanny price #first cousin marriage #cultural differences #yes it was often just about money #its a squick not an ick #actual issue that should be addressed #people today suffer discrimination

[princesssarisa]

If the Asian and Egyptian versions of the Cinderella story really are the oldest versions, then it's very interesting to see how the story of Cinderella has done an about-face between those early versions and the most recent adaptations.

In the Egyptian tale of Rhodopis, the Chinese tale of Ye Xian, and the Vietnamese tale of Tam and Cam (among others, I'm sure), the heroine and the king she ultimately marries don't meet before she loses her shoe. He just finds the shoe, or some other person or animal finds it and brings it to him. He determines from how small and delicate it is that it must belong to a very beautiful woman, so he resolves to find her and marry her, and he does.

These early proto-Cinderellas and their kings don't have time to fall in love before they get married, unless we assume that love at first sight takes place. The point isn't that she finds true love: the point is that she escapes from her unhappy circumstances, marries a king, and becomes a queen. It makes sense that it should be that way, since in those cultures (and most others) in ancient times, marriage was probably very rarely for love. The heroine's escape and social advancement are the central wish-fulfillment.

But as the tale travels to Europe and becomes the familiar Cinderella, it changes. The heroine and her prince (as he tends to be in European versions instead of a king) now meet at the ball or festival she attends in her magic finery. They fall in love there. The search for the girl who fits the slipper isn't just for a girl presumed to be beautiful based on the smallness and daintiness of her shoe, but a search for the girl the prince already loves yet has no other way to find.

The central wish-fulfillment changes from just "the heroine escapes from abuse and marries into royalty" to "the heroine finds true love, escapes from abuse, and marries into royalty."

Stage and screen adaptations from the 19th century onward often take this change a step further, probably both to increase the romanticism and to prevent anyone from accusing Cinderella of being a gold-digger. They have Cinderella fall in love with the prince without knowing he's a prince, and only learn his identity later. The fact that he is royalty comes across as just an added bonus for this Cinderella, who was perfectly content thinking she had found a poor but loving man.

And now, in the 2020s, a new trend has emerged in adaptations. In no less than three recent Cinderellas – Andrew Lloyd Webber's 2021 musical, the 2021 Amazon/Sony Pictures movie musical, and the 2020 storybook Sootypaws that retells the story with mice – the heroine and her prince fall in love, but they don't get married and she doesn't become royalty. On the contrary, falling in love with Cinderella makes the prince realize he doesn't want to be king after all, so he abdicates his throne, letting his convenient brother or sister reign instead, and the two lovers set out to travel the world together.

The theme of the heroine escaping from abuse is consistent. But when it comes to what else she gains, we've shifted from "the heroine marries into royalty" to "the heroine finds true love and marries into royalty," to just "the heroine finds true love," and with added emphasis on gaining freedom.

This change probably says a lot about the difference between today's Western culture and the cultures of ancient Egypt or China.

#cinderella #fairy tale #retellings #adaptations #cultural differences