Peace Of Mind
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[font color="#8f2520"]~ Drinks Well With Others ~[/font]
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Post by Peace Of Mind on Sept 4, 2012 14:18:49 GMT -5
I'm a military brat and have had diverse experiences in every way I know of. I've seen and have met dirt poor to sickening rich people. Honestly, the poorer people were nicer, more interesting and more generous for the most part. I'm familiar with name brands but don't care about them. I think I'm just too cheap. The only thing I was not familiar with was the Urban Dictionary and the EEers opened my eyes to that experience. What has been seen can never be unseen!
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 14:25:06 GMT -5
"It's been a while since we've had a thread talking about how people who don't go to college are failures." Probably because it's not true and most here don't think that
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Loopdilou
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Post by Loopdilou on Sept 4, 2012 14:31:33 GMT -5
I haven't traveled to non-Western countries, so even if I try not to have a purely eurocentric worldview, it can't be helped. It's on my bucket list though.
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Waffle
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Post by Waffle on Sept 4, 2012 14:34:11 GMT -5
Loop - this might be a little off topic - but what non-Western countries would you want to visit?
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lynnerself
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Post by lynnerself on Sept 4, 2012 14:35:18 GMT -5
The world I live in is way too white and middle class.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Sept 4, 2012 14:35:50 GMT -5
I'm limited in technology. By choice. We just aren't consumers of technology. Dh and I watch an hour of tv a day, if we are lucky.
We didn't travel much out of state when I was growing up, but we did go on vacations every year. We were pretty middle class.
I've lived with gay people in college. In one of my jobs I work with poor people. I'm exposed to people of different cultures. We send our kids to private school, so we are exposed to rich people. I do read a few other messageboards-mostly child related. Sometimes, I get exposed to a life/lifestyle that I'm thankful I didn't choose.
We are raising our kids to be more worldly than we were growing up. But, I think it's that we don't really shelter our kids as much as other folks do. Not saying we let our kids do/view/act without boundaries. But, we don't hide things like poverty, race, death, differences in classes, whatever from our kids.
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Loopdilou
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Post by Loopdilou on Sept 4, 2012 14:38:34 GMT -5
Loop - this might be a little off topic - but what non-Western countries would you want to visit? Anything in Africa, the Middle East, or South-East Asia, plus South America. Never gotten specific about it
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Sept 4, 2012 14:39:01 GMT -5
I'm deficient in popular culture, by which I mean all those people who are on shows like American Idol and Big Brother and Survivor and any of the rest of the reality based TV shows. When I look at those celebrity magazines at the check out line I don't know any of the names, except for some of the big name movie stars. Sometimes the people at work start talking about the Kardashians or some singer who is currently popular and I never know what they're talking about. I listen to music that was popular when I was a teenager, eons ago.
I don't read any of the magazines geared towards women, like Vogue or Good Housekeeping or Southern living, so I'm ignorant of all their relationship tips, menu tips, fashion tips, etc. I also don't like chick lit or chick movies. So pretty much any media geared exclusively towards women I know almost nothing about.
I never saw this as something I need to 'fix,' however. I've traveled a lot in the US and Europe, read almost anything except romances, tried a lot of different cuisines, know a lot of different people in different social, religious and cultural backgrounds, so I'm content with the diversity in my life.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Sept 4, 2012 14:43:22 GMT -5
I've never had much interest in seeing Africa, except Egypt.. I'd love to travel through South America, South-East Asia, and the Middle East (if they'd get their political/religious shit together so I felt safe doing so). I want to hit Europe first though.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 14:44:05 GMT -5
I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with growing up "sheltered." You can't help where you're born and you can't help who your parents are. And it's probably a good thing not to be exposed to things like drugs, violance, crime, prostitution and the like that some areas have. And not knowing people from a different race doesn't have to be a barrier unless you let it.
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Waffle
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Post by Waffle on Sept 4, 2012 14:45:21 GMT -5
I've never had much interest in seeing Africa. I'd love to travel through South America, South-East Asia, and the Middle East (if they'd get their political/religious shit together so I felt safe doing so). I want to hit Europe first though. I see seperate vacations in the future for Mr. and Mrs. Honor
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 14:45:28 GMT -5
"The world I live in is way too white and middle class."
LOL, a interesting (possibly racist) choice of words. Imagine if someone said "the world I live in is way to poor and black."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2012 14:45:54 GMT -5
My sister always felt like she grew up too sheltered. So she ran away from home a few times, lived on the streets for a while, etc, just to try to get the experience of someone who was not sheltered. I thought that was a little over the top .
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 14:47:17 GMT -5
The middle east seems like the armpit of the world. I would consider going if I thought it was safe for Americans.
Europs, Australia, South America and possibly Asia are on my list of things to see.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Sept 4, 2012 14:47:56 GMT -5
Generally speaking, it's hard to be racist against the race that enjoys the most racial privilege (whites win by a long shot).
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Post by BeenThere...DoneThat... on Sept 4, 2012 14:47:56 GMT -5
<--- (minority poster here) ...sure, there are various limits I've battled... but that's okay... I'm worth the effort...
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 14:48:11 GMT -5
"So she ran away from home a few times, lived on the streets for a while, etc, just to try to get the experience of someone who was not sheltered. I thought that was a little over the top."
And your parents let your sister run away and live on her own?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2012 14:48:37 GMT -5
I think life becomes more limiting as you move down the road. For me, i have already gone to school, college, choose a career, got married , have kids, bought a home and all of that. Doesn't mean i still can't do things, but as you open certain doors in life, you begin to close others. I am pretty much settled and not likely to change careers or any of that. I suppose i could but it would be costly and the returns to do so begin to diminish the further you are down the road of life.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 14:49:08 GMT -5
"Generally speaking, it's hard to be racist against the race that enjoys the most racial privilege (whites win by a long shot)."
I disagree, you can be racist against whites. It's more common than you think.
And the perceived "privilege" often continues even after it's no longer the case. For example, used to be that women earned fewer degrees than men, but now women earn more degrees than men. But watch the drama if someone says we need to start giving affirmative action to men in the education world.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Sept 4, 2012 14:49:42 GMT -5
I am not joking when I say that I attended 6 - 8 grades right smack in the middle of the ghetto. In the 8th grade I was sitting in science class looking out the window (guess that shows how much I was paying attention) and saw the cops take down a crack house across the street from the school. At about the time school was letting out and we were getting on the buses was about the time the prostitutes started coming out and walking the streets. The city I lived in bused everyone from the west side of town to the east side during middle school and vice versa in high school. I am indifferent as to whether this was a good or a bad thing. I never felt unsafe when I went to school and I made lots of different friends.
ETA: I don't live there any longer but have been told that this has since changed and the middle school I attended has been torn down.
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Loopdilou
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Post by Loopdilou on Sept 4, 2012 14:50:50 GMT -5
I want to go to North Africa as much as anywhere (always fancied a trip to Morocco), so we should be good.
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Sept 4, 2012 14:52:15 GMT -5
Well, I don't know any "blended" families. All my family and friends have been married once, have kids by same mother/father, so a lot of times when I read posts about ex's drama, etc it's the world that I can't even imagine....
Lena
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Loopdilou
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Post by Loopdilou on Sept 4, 2012 14:52:38 GMT -5
"The world I live in is way too white and middle class." LOL, a interesting (possibly racist) choice of words. Imagine if someone said "the world I live in is way to poor and black." Both environments limit you.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Sept 4, 2012 14:55:18 GMT -5
"Generally speaking, it's hard to be racist against the race that enjoys the most racial privilege (whites win by a long shot)." I disagree, you can be racist against whites. It's more common than you think. The sociological definition of racism is something like "culturally-sanctioned beliefs that defend the advantages of whites over ethnic minorities." (Of course, this is more of an American definition - other countries have different types of racism, especially when whites ARE the "ethnic minorities"). So that's not to say that a white person can't be a victim of racism - but generally not the pervasive racism that is usually connoted by the word "racist."
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Sept 4, 2012 14:56:29 GMT -5
What??? They're the easiest to hate since they get all the perks. Think about how much easier it is to think of some investment banker that makes tens of millions a year as a total douche, than it is to imagine some working class welder or whatever as the same. On an individual level hating the privileged class is wicked easy.
Unless you're talking societal racism, where it's set up to favor a certain race. In that sense, you're right, I don't think societal racism against whites exists.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Sept 4, 2012 14:58:04 GMT -5
That's what I was talking about - in the context of Phoenix's quote that saying "My neighborhood is way too white and middle-class" could be construed as racist... Either way, that's a side topic. Now back to the Appalachian hill people...
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 14:58:36 GMT -5
It's all how you define racism. I believe racism is thinking those of a race other than your own are in any way inherantly inferior. Of course when you define racism as "defending the advantages of whites or ethnic minorities" you'll think that only whites are capable of being racist.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Sept 4, 2012 15:01:35 GMT -5
Thanks to the power of Webster dictionary online, here is the "official" definition of racism.
1. a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
Note it doesn't mention society or societal racism or anything like that. Nor does it imply that racism only includes those who have racial privilege.
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Sept 4, 2012 15:01:58 GMT -5
Not necessarily. Whites aren't the only proponents of racism - there is a lot of tension between the Hispanic and black communities, for one.
And on a sociological topic like racism, I'm not sure Webster's is the ultimate authority...
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Sept 4, 2012 15:04:19 GMT -5
Egypt was amazing. The pyramids were awe inspiring. Meeting Anwar Sadat and his wife was a lifetime experience. I'd love to go again. I also would like to see Israel before the mid east blows up but it's unlikely I will.
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