!Not part
of actual blog!--First I shall thank everyone for take his time to read my
blog. I shall also apologize here for uploading my blog late due to medical
reasons—Haotian
As you can see from the title, this blog is
about Cultural Differentiation Elective(CDE), which studies how the western and
eastern cultures differ and relate to each other. I am new to CDE as it is only
introduced to us this year, but in two lessons, I am fascinated by it. The CDE
module makes its objectives super clear as it focuses on using case studies of
the different aspects on the two cultures to compare and contrast. This give us
a platform to study this differences, and discuss what resulted in this
differences(social, believe in freedom etc.), which I understand as studying
the bigger picture from a smaller example. I also understand how CDE is
important to Singaporeans, especially those like me in the Bilingual Special
Program, because if we cannot even identify how the differences and
similarities between the western culture and the eastern cultures, we cannot be
scholars that excel in both cultures. Thus, my goal for CDE this year will be
to have a clear grasp of how the East is different from the West, and how this
will affect the way each people do things and think in their own nations.
I shall conclude my first lesson as an amazing
appetitser. By watching HSBC commercial videos, I learnt how the lack of knowledge
of other cultures can result in awkward situations(sometimes even damaging to
your wallet and your personal image.) It reinforces the idea of the power that
cultures and deep-rooted traditions can have. For me, it also give me a
question to ponder: that is understanding the culture of place you are going to
important, no matter what reasons you are going there for? After a short time
of internal brain-storming and analysis, I decided that it is favorable to
learn about the culture of the place you are visiting or going for a vacation
as the extra information can give you a more enjoyable time there. But it is
essential to understand about the place you are travelling to for business and
its culture, since displaying a good knowledge of the culture and help you to
build up a good image of yourself in your future business partner while a lack
of knowledge will leave a long-lasting mark of disrespect in the opposite party’s
minds, which may even endanger your deal.
During our second lesson, we studied about
the Core American Values that determined how Americans think and how America
works. I learnt that America is consisted of a pluralistic society, which is
evident in its fifty states and represent various social values. According to “The
American Way” by Sociologist R. Williams, America is – about individualism; emphasizes
on success and active engagement in any activity; values efficiency and practicality;
passionate about science and technology; demands progress and materialistic
comfort; is a Humanitarian nation; and ironically being a nation that is racist
and view some other races as inferior although America almost being a synonym
for freedom, democracy and equality. Other aspects that people relates to when
thinking of America is religiosity and romantic love. Such is the basic
information I was taught but through guidance from Mr. Karplus and some
discussion, I can infer from the information and learn even more. For example I
learnt how the different American Core Values are inter-connected, like the
value on practicality causing America to be interested in applied science and
how the demand for progress result in technology in America to rapidly develop.
Also I understood how the values affect America in their way of thinking and doing
things, such as many American’s opposition to the abolishment of gun ownership
partly due to thinking that their “freedom” is being violated and many American
movies having only one hero who is infallible and capable of everything due to America’s
individualism(大英雄主义). Lastly, I have some personal views on the subject of America being
racist and the whites viewing themselves as superior: this maybe partially due
to the whites is not natives of the land of America and thus had a desire to
show that they are the rightful rulers of this plot of land, being racist to
people to other races(native Indies) so as to gather self confidence. And this
marks the end of the second lesson.
Hello, Haotian! Thank you for writing such an amazing essay.Similarly, I feel that understanding the culture of place you are going to important, no matter what reasons you are going there for. To add on to your point,when you understand the culture of a certain place, you are more likely to understand their way of thinking and know what to avoid doing in front of them that may actually hurt their feelings or turn them mad. This is because certain appropriate gestures or doing may be actually inappropriate in different societies and may thus may offend that person of another culture.
ReplyDeleteI also agree on the values of America being related to each other for example with the motivation to progress, success and fame will follow suit. Good inference on individualism and leadership with American movies! There is often a main hero who is leading the way in American movies while there is more emphasis on teamwork in Chinese movies. Let's look forward to the next CDE lessons!
With regards,
Huang Zhizhou
Hey there HaoTian, I similarly thank you for writing such a wonderful essay. I agree with all of your incites, especially on the two, the reference of individualism in American movies, and the cause of racism of the Americans towards the other races.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, in many American, be it Walt Disney, Marvel, or any other American film companies, movies, there is always that one bad ass character, the main hero, who always has some kind of sad or horrible past or experience, then goes on to save the world or the ones he/she loves. Speaking of which, I feel that you can infer the value of " Love conqueres all" from the american movies also, as it seems that for some reason, the hero's lover always( Some movies might not though, tragedy movies, and Spiderman 2:) ) gets saved, or is fine miraculosely at the end of the movie, showing the fact that true love is the strongest power ever, and that love can conquer anything. Anyways, back to the topic, I feel and agree with you that, individualism can be infered from the movies, as there is always the uprising of a hero, from zero, to hero, and stands against all odds, be it family, friends, enemies, or the government. I also agree with your point on racism. Actually, I did not really brainstormed on the reason for racism the whites had, and after reading your opinion and thinking about it, I felt that it was logical and sensible, thus I agree with your viewpoint.
In conclusion, a piece of great work, keep up the good work! ( I feel like some teacher )
Yours Sincerely,
Eric
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Hao Tian,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing such a riveting essay. I liked how you applied what you learnt in the lessons in actual life, such as if we lack the ability to identify the differences and similarities between the western culture and the eastern culture, and eventually do not display a good knowledge of the culture, we may leave a long-lasting mark of disrespect in the opposite party’s minds. This could be a potential flaw on our part and result in us having poor relationships with those that belong to another culture, thus limiting our business and social opportunities.
i also agree on your view that Americans oppose against gun abolishment so much just because they feel that their "freedom" in the United States is being threatened. Americans feel that freedom is a symbolic feature of their country and if gun ownership is banned, they will probably feel that their freedom is lost.However, i disagree with your point that Americans are racist to the blacks just because they were previously in ownership of America and the Americans wanted to be superior to show that the land belonged to them. However, there have been such cases in other parts of the world but racism did not occur. An example was when the government wanted to take over the forests in Indonesia which the tribes lived in and force them to live in the city which they did not belong. Instead of discriminating against them for fear of losing the land, i feel that it is just of their culture difference and skin color that the whites cannot get along the blacks. Similarly, the government have a different view on how should one live their live as compared to the tribes, therefore there is a misunderstanding and clash between them.
Hello Hao Tian,
ReplyDeleteYou must have put in effort in drawing connections between what we have learnt from the lessons like how cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings which may result in losing chances which one would have grasped if he had tried to develop a basic understanding of the other person's culture. I also find your point on racism in America a rather unique and interesting one that I have not explored. I will definitely stay tuned to your channel!