-=> Quoting Karolina Stutzman to Jim Casto <=-
 KS> My confusion arose, in part, because I wasn't sure if we were 
 KS> speaking of a Native American d.c./mainstream culture or if
 KS> we were speaking of a d.c./mainstream of the U.S. as a whole, which
 KS> would by definition include some native americans.  
 
 Maybe this will help?
 
 Native Americans (both words capitalized) = American Indians
 native Americans (small "n") people born in the U.S. or of American parents
 
 Technically, even though I was born in China, I am a native American (or
 natural-born American), not Chinese.
 
 KS> I contacted our county library and they happen to have Loewen's
 KS> on the shelf.  Now to get a library card....  :/   I suspect I know
 KS> what I'll find - similarities in the writing of U.S. history books, 
 KS> much like in not-so-long-ago-Russia?  It seems to me that all
 KS> history books are written from one perspective.  Yes?
 
 One problem with the "mainstream culture. They have (and use) credit cards
 more than they do library cards. Many people would be "better off" (but not
 necessarily in the material things of life) if they would get rid of their
 credit cards and start using their library card more. 
 
 As for history books... They aren't _all_ written the "same" but a good
 portion of them are. Loewen takes twelve high school history textbooks and
 does a "contrast and compare" of the books as well as their "truthfulness".
 There _are_ MUCH more truthful History textbooks on the market.
 
 KS> I see cultures as dynamic - for better or worse, not static.
 That is true.
 KS> I see cultures made  up of people who carry and/or change their values 
 KS> and ethics.  I have a difficult time separating the people from their
 KS> values, etc.
 You can't separate, but you might be able to modify their values.
 KS> Although I see the mainstream as containing
 KS> ever-changing  values and ethics I can't grasp a mainstream that would
 KS> *not* be a  mixture of cultures, because, in my head, it is the
 KS> *people* that  change and carry the values, and it is the people that
 KS> are necessarily  cultural.
 The BIG problem is the fact that the "mainstream culture" is pretty 
xclusive
 about what they will accept to the "blend" or as you put it "amalgamation".
 
 An easy example is: words... The "mainstream culture" will accept _some_
 words but not others. If it "rolls off the tongue readily" it's o.k., but
 if it takes some concious thought, the "mainstream culture" will have a 
 problem dealing with it. Native American tribal names are a REAL biggie,
 for example.
 KS> I see values, morals, and ethics as being,
 KS> at least *in part* cultural.
 Oh, they are. There are several lists floating about that "compare" Native
 American values and Asian values to "American" values. While these lists are
 "generalities" and may not apply in every single individual and to the same
 degree, for the most part they are, if nothing else, "food for _internal_
 thought.
 For example: the "mainstream culture" is taught to value the _individual_
 more than the _community_.
 KS> Although I don't adhere to many of the
 KS> "outward" signs of my birth culture, and have taken on some signs of
 KS> the new culture in  which I find myself, I still bring with me many of
 KS> the "internal", less  visible, signs of my birth culture.   
 
 I guess I would have to say I am the opposite. Many of the things I was
 "taught" by my birth culture (American mainstream White Anglo Saxon
 Protestant) I have determined are "wrong" for me. But I don't necessarily
 want to _completely_ adopt an _entirely_ different lifestyle. (I much prefer
 a warm house to a cave, for example. However, I am not _driven_ to buy a
 bigger, better house than my neighbor as my birth culture has taught me. 
>)
 KS> I'm in danger of confusing myself.  (g)
 Actually, I don't think you are.  At least you are _thinking_ about it
 which is MUCH more than I would guess the majority of the "mainstream
 culture" does. They react to their culture without much concious thought.
 KS> Am I part of the "unique 
 KS> development" of which you speak?  Am I part of the "ever-changing
 KS> values and ethics" of which you speak?  I might agree with this,
 KS> because I have done away with some of my birth values and have
 KS> developed some of my own.
 Ah, but are you changing any of the values of those around you? Family,
 friends, neighbors, etc.
 KS> Yet, if this is the case, at the same
 KS> time I still maintain *some* outer and inner signs of culture which,
 KS> to me, would indicate that me and others like me (from *whatever*
 KS> culture), on the whole are, therefore, a "mixture" of cultures.  
 
 To a point...  Greek food could still be Greek food. However, chow mein
 and chop suey are not Chinese.  And if you go to China, and order chow
 mein, I suspect they will call that "American".  So while "mainstream
 America" might accept _some_ "culture" items from other cultures, they will
 reject others. For example: dog meat (yes, think Lassie) is a delicacy in
 some cultures, but the "mainstream culture" would NEVER accept that. 
owever,
 as late as the days of the Lewis & Clark expedition (early 1800s) it was
 acceptable fare in the "wilderness". (I don't know that it was sold at the
 local meat market in the early 1800s.)
 KS> Or, have I come to understand your point of view (via skirting
 KS> Jack Robinson's barn) that this "mixture" of cultures is the new
 KS> and "unique development" of which you speak and this is the part
 KS> that contains the "ever-changing values" of which you speak? 
 
 Again, I have to be careful that I don't confuse "values, ethics, and 
orals"
 with other more material items of "culture". That's what makes defining the
 "mainstream culture" difficult. The most important thing to keep in mind 
hat
 one that has been born raised and lived outside the "culture" might "adopt"
 certain aspects of that "culture" without total immersion. Nor does it mean
 that one has to _totally_ give up their "birth culture". This reminds me of
 a study conducted among Asian immigrant children. The further they (and
 their families got from the Asian values, moral, ethics, etc. toward the
 "mainstream American culture" the worse their school grades got.
 KS> As an aside, I think that your last two sentences, "A product of 
 KS> ever-changing values. And it is an ever-changing culture of values 
 KS> and ethics.", also go a long way toward explaining the creation and 
 KS> change in *law* that so many of us also view as static, especially 
 KS> when considered in the perspective of our short lifespans.
 
 It just depends on wheter those changes are for the "better" or will they
 only make things worse?
 KS> Whew...  (g) that's enough thinking for me for one night!  
 KS> Please pass the aspirins, or some other bottle containing liquid 
 KS> refreshment, whichever happens to be closer!
 
 Actually, I am writing this at five a.m. and it's time for work and school.
 
 Jim
--- Blue Wave v2.12
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