Friday, June 02, 2006

against my better judgement, i have unwittingly borrowed a pile of thrashy novels recently. i tried to redeem myself with a little dose of non-fiction. i started off with the tabloids (hey-at least, its REAL people) hoping i would fare better and read past page 3:- i did.

proving once again that fact is more engaging, yet ironically more complex, than fiction.

one book, 'good women of china' made me think twice about ever sinking my teeth into a bakery-produced sponge cake or any china-made food ever again. but tats just me, really. on a more serious tone, this book made me ponder about something else altogether. about how often we let stereotypical views cloud our perceptions of different cultures, long before we get to know them personally. lets not kid ourselves, we are bound to harbour some stereotypical views at some point of time or the other. these same stereotypical views would later also hinder us from embracing our differences.

we complain, criticize, attack and tear apart anything that is remotely foreign.

we are truly well-trained in that.

fuelled by word-of-mouths by fellow cretins with similar narrow-minded prejudices, we made up our minds about everybody belonging to a certain culture (or race. or religion). we hear wat we wanna hear and discriminatingly sieve things that dun conform to what we already choose to believe. it doesnt matter that these statements have nary in truth in them. nor does it matter these remarks are being passed on by people you wouldnt care to trust your potted cactus to. it doesnt occur to us to sit down and contemplate about the truths in these views, or to seek explanations from the stereotyped. because we just dun care, really. we would rather concentrate all our energy on getting more material wealth than our neighbours. either that or write in fervently to st forum sections and feel a notch smarter to see our names appear in the papers while the rest of the world shake their heads in unison acknowledging these big losers. well done. (it doesnt necessarily make you smarter to have your name in print, you know? they have those under the obituaries too.)

anyways, all these insidious stereotypical remarks, for what really? to prove tirelessly that we are superior than them? so tat we appear holier-than-thou, better-than-thou? so that we can snort our noses, flick our hair to whoever 'they' might be?

in other words, to make ourselves feel better, innit?
we get a helluva kick out of condescending and patronizing others, dun we?
we look down on others so that they might look up to us, is tat it?

if so, then we truly are a pathetic, little lot.

ps: of cos having said all that, i have to admit most stereotypical views are harmless.
...... as long as you dun take them with as much seriousness as you would a bar mitzvah-if you were a jew, tat is.

r.z 3:44 PM  0 comments