Beauty...

     In all these different cultures there are all these different definitions of beautiful. In america girls re3 considered beautiful if they are skinny, have big breasts, and a big but. I mean they right tons of songs about it too. Unshaved legs or armpits are not considered beautiful and neither are uni-brows. Take the movie dodgeball. They have this women on one of the teams who is made fun of for being "ugly" she has a unibrow, buck teeth, and wears her hair like princess Leah.
In america if you ever went out of the house like that people would be starting at you, secretly taking photos, and sending them to their friends and ranting about it. But if you were to maybe look at another culture you would see that their opinion on what beautiful looks like is totally different from ours.
One example is that in china people would break their feet to make them fit in these tiny shoes because it was considered beautiful. Someone from china may have thought that was beautiful but in america people think that its terrible and disgusting.

I found this link that showed all these different traits of beauty.




In Thailand neck rings are popular. They make their necks longer and what that to them means beauty to americans seems deranged.







There's the Maori people in New Zealand who get tattoos on their faces called
moko. For women the ultimate sign of beauty was full blue lips and tattoos covering their chin. I know that in other countries people would not even think about doing that because they thought it would make them look unpleasant.





In west Africa (if you are Mauritanian) if you are over weight you are thought of as wealthy. They are considered wealthy when they have stretch marks, fat ankles, and large stomachs. In america thats crazy! Its considered ugly.


But beauty is not just about what you wear its also has to do with the shape of your face, the color of your skin, the color of your eyes, the shape of your lips, the length of your forehead, the shape of your nose... People get plastic surgery and make themselves do things to fit what is considered beautiful in that part of the world or in their culture.
     In my opinion I think that when looking at all these different types of beauty... Beauty is this idea of this perfect person... Beauty is every type of body shape, eye color, face shape, and other physical features its just considered beautiful in different places.  I mean no matter how you look in some way you are beautiful. I would like to say that I don't care and all these opinions in america don't affect me. But really I can't. We try to live up to all these versions of beauty wherever we are and we are willing to hurt ourselves and subject ourselves to all these things just to be "beautiful". I watched these videos down bellow and it really showed me how beauty is different everywhere you go... And after seeing the diversity of the beautiful people above I can say that there is no possible way for there to be one person who is the picture of beauty everywhere.

How Culture Shapes Our Perspective

How Culture Shapes Our Perspective?

     Depending on your culture you have different perspective on some situations. You are brought up in a specific culture and taught things as you grow up that shapes you. Its almost like raising a dog. If you abuse that dog and mistreat the dog it will turn out aggressive and not pleasant but if you raised the dog with proper discipline, love, and kindness then it will become a mans best friend. The reason why the dogs act that way is because of their perspective of what humans are. Because they grew up in a home where they are treated a certain way by humans they then assume all humans are that same way from their perspective.

     As americans we grow up learning that our people and our country is good and that they are the right country, but it is simply all through perspective. I mean some people in america and america in general can be very ethnocentric. They assume that we are right and that in other countries who decide to go about their ordeals another way are terrorists or less fortunate or bad. But if you would just look at the perspective of other countries you would see that they think we are the terrorists and that we are less fortunate. They are taught by their culture to think these things.

     A personal example I have is the different cultures on the mainland to Hawaii. I was taught as I was growing up to call your older male figures or people in your life uncle and the female ones aunty. I was having my friend who had recently moved to Hawaii from the mainland over for a sleepover. She was calling my dad and mom Mr. and Mrs. Awana. That was so weird for me... I told her that she could and should call them uncle Jeff and aunty Renee, but she said that it was sort of disrespectful. We both thought that each other was crazy and that we were right and the other person is wrong.

     I think that as you grow up you go through socialization and learn your culture and really become apart of it. I also think that because of that you have different perspectives, opinions, and ideas than people from other cultures, Now I know that there is definitely not always super definite cultures. Many go through what is called acculturation and adopt parts of other cultures so its hard to pick one one definite culture for each person. Each person is like a puzzle of different cultures that creates this picture of who they are. Each picture is different. Sometimes completely opposite and sometimes almost exactly the same just like our perspectives. The last thing I would like to say is that it would be so much easier to comprehend each persons puzzle or perspective if we could all be ethno-relative and open our eyes and understand that we are not the only culture out there. So many opinions, perspectives, and cultures that make it hard for us to understand one another. 

     When you look at a situation we need to think "What other perspectives do people have on this?" and "How does this affect other people and their cultures?". Culture is truly amazing to me. You can see how diverse we all are and without it we would not be anyone we would not be different and opinionated. Our culture makes you who you are. It makes you think the way you think and it makes you act the way you act.

Global Race Issues

     After looking at the map I started to think. The map showed that the United States is zero percent racist. I don't think that is all true. I don't think its possible to be zero percent racist. Without even thinking we start putting people into boxes and simply based on their looks when we first meet them. That is being racist. We assume so much about people by seeing what race they are. I have never met anyone who has never done that or judged someone. Its simply part of human nature.
     Collecting this data would not have been easy. I mean there is so much human arror and it is very hard to be accurate with these kinds of things. Maybe the people do think one way but don't want to be seen that way so they change their answer. Either that or they don't want to admit they are racist or they don't even realize they are racist. I think that it is pretty much impossible to get accurate data about this particular topic.
     When I was reading the article what I was wondering about was how are the countries that are extremely racist just so racist. I mean I want to understand how and why. I don't care as much about wether or not they are I want to know why and in what way.

To me this shows how you or anyone can be anything. They don't have to be asian to be at the top of your class. You don't have to be black to get mvp for basketball. You don't have to look like anything to be anything. You ca't instantly know everything about someone after seeing them. You need to know them.

My Race Cards

"My friends aren't all Hawaiian..."

     I was talking to my friends boyfriend from the mainland and he asked me automatically about all my "hawaiian" friends. He asked me if they all had hawaiian names and how I could pronounce them all... I can have friends who are black, latino, white, asian and hawaiian. I can be friends with anyone we don't need to match.

Two Arms, Two Legs, One Head

     I think that this person really has a point. We are all the same we all have two arms, two legs, and one head. Why is it so hard for us to just respect one another. Why must we instantly think something about a person the moment we see their name. The moment we see a picture. We immediately start to judge them and make assumptions.

Think Inside the Box

     If I could snoop inside someones "box" I think I would look through my grandfather on my dad's side's "box". I would choose him him because I've always wanted to get to know him. He died about a year or so before I was born. My family also always talks about him.
     The only things that I actually know about him is that he had a good sense of humor, he was caring, and he was lactose intolerant. So I pretty much don't know anything. I want to be able to know my family... all of my family... I want to know the small tiny little details about him. I mean I am related to him... I should know something about him right!
     I want to know is favorite color, his dreams, his favorite food, what type of animal he likes, what school he went too, and even where he was raised. I want to find maybe a journal where he may have wrote about what he enjoyed. I also hope to find some entries in that journal about funny family stories or traditions I have never heard before. I hope to find an old photo album that has pictures of things he has done and places he has traveled.
     I would want to learn what exactly about him made everyone love him like my family does. I want to know wether he preferred hotdogs or hamburgers. My family always speaks highly of him and they all care for him and thought he was just amazing, lovable, and just down right awesome. I hope to find out why he was so great. Why he was thought so highly of. I want to know all the cooky traits he has.
     I feel as if there is so much I don't know about him or what my dad's and uncle's relationship with him is like. There is a ton of information I would love to find out from him. That is why I want to snoop through his "box"