What is something strange about your culture?

[Apulu_backagain]

Over here in India, it is the fact that Indian aunties think they have better functioning brain than you.

Let me just explain you this whole comedy which just happened in my home as my relatives have come over.

So I'm in last year old high school and I'm busy looking for colleges preparing for entrance exams and my board exams and SAT and collecting Letter of Recommendations and stuff like that. So my aunty was asking what exactly do I want to study and what are my plans for future.

I told I wanted to do a BSc Hons Economics degree for undergraduate and then do job for few years and then Master's in Business Administration and then I'll start something of my own while helping my dad and mom with the family business.

She replied, "But Beta (child), your math is strong, why did you not choose engineering?"

...

I politely replied, "I like maths, yes, that's a reason I want to do BSc economics but I'm not very up for engineering "

And then she's replied, "But Economics is such an easy course, why do that and waste your dad's money on private universities, go study in IIT (IIT is basically MIT of India)."

I replied, "No, I won't study in private universities, I have already selected this one really good college (IIMB) which is as competitive as IIT. If I don't get there, I'll study abroad. But I'll get a student loan for either because I don't want to depend on my parents"

She looked at me as if she saw the most disrespectful child ever and replied, "Why will you take a student loan? You're acting as if your parents don't earn enough"

... The irony...

And it doesn't end here. Somehow our very intense debate turned into talk of my marriage?

She asked, "if you're planning so much, that means you don't have time for marriage, you'll be unmarried at your late 20s?"

...

MA'AM I'M 17 GET OUT 😭

...

Thankfully my dad accepts my decisions and he told me to go and study so I won't have to talk to her more. He's such a saviour 😭

Drop your lore now.

[Still-alive]

Here in America our portion sizes are huge compared to most of the rest if the world I notice. Its no wonder a lot of us have gotten fat.

so that’s something you’ll likely notice if you visit is when you order something at a restaurant you get way more than in other cultures.

[Apulu_backagain]

One day I'll go to New York just to eat Dave's Chicken and Crumble cookies and Insomnia and Dunkin and Starbucks and Olive Garden and Chick Fil A spend the whole week like a glutton.

And do they really give the whole venti cup full of sauce in Raising Cane? Or is it an influencer thing? Cuz if they do, that's so big back 😭

And I'll definitely get "55 BURGERS, 55 FRIES, 55 TACOS, 55 PIES, and 55 COKES" at McDonald's

[Still-alive]

Oh yeah you’ll definitely not go hungry at all if you visit lol. Like hunger? Whats that never heard of it.

[Apulu_backagain]

Yeah, after that I'll go to Germany to lose all that weight because all they have is dry bread and less portion and be very loud and chatty.

Does that make me eligible for American citizenship then? 😂

[DryGermanGuy]

We’re the only country in the world where you can drive as fast as you want on the highways (~75% of them, anyway).

[Apulu_backagain]

And is that usually safe?

...
Who am I to ask, people here treat road as race tracks when there's no traffic police 😭

[DryGermanGuy]

Yeah, not a big problem. Per driven kilometers we only have 20-25% the accident numbers the United States has.

[Apulu_backagain]

That's surprisingly efficient and safe then.

[Cubus]

We all are from different cultures, so some things can be very weird to others.

Like: Americans would find it weird that in my coutnry you can't offend a president, cause it's a crime.

[Apulu_backagain]

What about freedom of speech?

[Cubus]

In overall we have freedom of speech, but I guess this is considered an exception.

[Apulu_backagain]

What counts as offending the president? Is constructive criticism included in that too? Or does it depend on what president thinks is offensive?

[Cubus]

Like: there was one famous case a few years ago, when one journalist and screenwriter called our former president "a moron". But the court appearently found him not guilty due to "low harmfulness of the act".

[Apulu_backagain]

That actually went to court? Surprising

[Cubus]

Yeah. I told you it's a crime.

[abc3643]

That we vote Republican which is clearly not in our best interests.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

The people here are culturally insecure and always manipulated by medias.

[Apulu_backagain]

I guess this is happening everywhere, no authentic media nowadays. Infact a national daily here in India was talking about how a influencer doesn't want to change her last name to her husband's name after her marriage, as if that's going to challenge the nation.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Actually, our culture specially in my region is very rich. But the capital always overly represent their hispanized colonial heritage, the history book and going on for centuries now which is why people here start to be just a copy of the capital or became generic islanders.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

The Philippines looks so westernized, our indigenous culture is usually shamed and stereotyped. The capital is where the brutal erasure of culture is done by the Spaniards and replacing them. They their standards became the "standard". Our region may have contacts with them but the Spanish conquest was not consistent which is why we still have indigenous practices even fused with Spanish but the media keeps glorifying the western standards which is why.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

So it's like the capital is having a cultural superiority complex and also insecure for standing out so differently. That's why my goal is to actually continue the cultural evolution of our region and empower them by writing a book about it and to recognize the biases and colonial propagandas.

[Apulu_backagain]

Something like that is happened in India too. British practices and etiquettes were more celebrated and cultural practice were seen as barbaric. Thankfully millennials brought a change and people are embracing and reconnecting with the culture and everything.

What you're planning to do will surely be of great importance in the whole cultural revolution for Phillipines if you manage to create a big audience for your book. That's one hell of a initiative. Best of luck for that!

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Yeah colonizers tend to do that. The Spaniards just came so early like 1565s and the colonization last so long. That's exactly why Latin America "Spanish" yet "not Spanish" And yeah thanks. You too tho good luck! *Hugs*

[Apulu_backagain]

*Hugs*

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Oh yeah, here's another strange thing. They keep borrowing art from other pop cultures putting them in floats. Like they have nothing to do with the heritage. Our main festival starts to become like a commercialized romcom now when it used to be religious and meaningful. It's a sign of insecurity. They use random art, whatever looks good for a quick hook and I think it's cringe.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

I mean that's just for the festival. It's becoming so out of place. People still argue "that's the point of the festival "fun" but Im also glad many criticize it.

[Apulu_backagain]

I mean there's nothing wrong with appreciating other cultures but if that 'appreciation' comes from insecurity and shame then that's wrong.

Once a society starts forgetting it's language and culture, it's bound to be broken into fragments. That's why French has a strong history of fighting against those who tried to break them apart, they are deeply connected with their language.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Not even just other culture but I mean "pop culture" random mermaids, monkey, super heroes, etc. then they just put the god beside. Originality is dying but I can fix it. Appreciating is fine like admiring it, attending other festivals, learning more about them yes but copying or just importing them wholesale without even learning is not. It's appropriation. However, i'm just glad they didn't went far enough to steal other country's culture into the festival. One incident when they copied the islamic dance, it got a strong backlash.

[Apulu_backagain]

That's actually sad. Reminds me of that situation when Lalisa Manoban, a kpop group member, visited Ayutthaya in her country Thailand and then they put her a poster everywhere around that showing that she visited that place and it actually did bring many people there who just clicked photos near the poster.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Yeah. I just hope my book inspires not just our culture but the world making their own version of it for their culture. We still have hope tho. Japan for example stopped wearing kimonos in the late 1800s but then they revived it in the 90s. It became their formal attire again. I'm not afraid to compare. But I use it as a learning instead of being insecure about it.

[Apulu_backagain]

That's a good way to look at things, I'm sure you'll go very far.

[Jhon_Cobretti]

Our men built everything and they were benevolent enough to let everyone else use it.

[Apulu_backagain]

How is that strange? I'm sorry I didn't get it, can you elaborate?

[ilistengood]

We owned everything from one ocean to the other, we fed a few starving tourists, pilgrims, sorry. And the next thing we knew the pilgrims owned it. Sheeesh

[TheInvincible]

Indian aunties and their superiority complex comes out when the useless questions they throw are answered back. Respect your dad tho.

[slatyb]

the guns

[slatyb]

and compared to the Europeans we're weird about sex

[Apulu_backagain]

Oh yeah, guns are really common in America.