-=> Quoting Sondra Ball to Karolina Stutzman <=-
 PMFJI
 SB> I guess the DC is close to being *white american* culture, but I don't
 SB> think all whites belong there.  And many non-whites do. But it's
 SB> backbone is European immigrants and their descendents.  As a matter of
 SB> fact, its backbone is probably western European immigrants and their
 SB> descendents.
 
 What Sondra says is probably true depending on exactly _what_ comprises
 "culture". 
 
 SB> The DC is what most of the people in this country tend to believe.  It
 SB> is the culture of the *average Joe* American.
 
 But, I am convinced that the "average Joe American" is also "taught" to
 believe that the "average Joe American" _is_ just that. In other words,
 "someone" (the ubiquitous "they/someone") _says_ that the "average Joe
 American" is _this_. (Again the all-encompassing _this_. ) Therefore if
 and individual who is NOT an "average Joe American" _wants_ to be "like
 everyone else" they will _do_ "this". What gets confusing is the "how".
 
 An example might be the "American Dream". A little house with a white picket
 fence, a car in the garage and chicken every Sunday. An ideal dream. The 
 problem is how the American culture has been created to achieve that 
dream".
 (Your house _must_ be bigger and better than your neighbor's house, your car
 _must_ be better than your neighbor's car, etc.) VALUES. The result is we
 now have both parents working to get the BIG house with the STONE WALL and
 gates and the family/community unit breaks down, etc., etc.
 
 SB> Many kids in the DC are taught about manifest destiny, that Indians
 SB> were nomadic, and that we were all pre-literate.
 
 And many kids are taught about those things at home in regards to other
 peoples. Not just NAs. It's another of the _general_ "mainstream cultures"
 values/beliefs. It's a long time educational process that will probably take
 a long time to correct. (Assuming it will _ever_ be corrected.) Progress is
 being made around here in the Pacific Northwest, but it is slow. But, that
 _might_ be the best way to do it. The "mainstream culture" of America is 
ERY
 conservative when it comes to "change".
 A classic example came up in the Canadian class the other day in a 
iscussion
 about the metric system. One lady had trouble relating kilometers to miles.
 The prof asked her this question: "How long are you in a foreign country
 before you stop calculating the monetary rate of exchange?" In most cases,
 we decided it wasn't very long. 
 
 As a result of our "conservatism" (or maybe American's are stubborn or 
"better
 than"?) we are only one of (maybe) two countries in the world that have not
 adopted the metric system.
 
 Jim
--- Blue Wave v2.12
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