Cultural Misunderstandings

Cultural misunderstandings are some of the most concerning problems in the world today. From cultural stereotypes, to blatant generalizations, it is far easier for individuals to misunderstand a group of people than into experiencing the culture itself. The problem with this is that there are two types of misunderstanding: the concious misunderstanding, and the unaware misunderstanding.

Simply, the concious misunderstanding generally manifests itself in humor. People from France are bastards, people from England drink tea more than water, and people from America are fat. No one usually takes any serious offence from statements such as these -- I certainly don't. The central issue is when people make statements such as these and do not realize that what they are saying is a generalization, or a lie. For example, when people claim that people of certain religions are conditioned to dislike others. I have heard countless people seriously believe such an idea. This is unacceptable.

In my opinion, this is a problem that sprouts from education systems around the world. As children people are encouraged to believe whatever they are taught in school or whatever they read in textbooks. The fact of the matter is that these are largely recycled opinions presented in an intelligent format. If individuals fail to experience the world for themselves, or to engage in further reading, then it is likely that these inaccuracies will perpetuate themselves in society. If individuals choose to rely upon recycled ideas then there is no hope for the advancement of the human race.

Individuals must not rely solely upon the opinions and ideas presented before them. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and therefore, everyone is entitled to question arguments set out before them. If discussion and argument cease to exist, then cultural misunderstandings will continue to spread -- and not in the humorous sense.

... Seriously though, English people do drink a lot of tea.