I had a cross-cultural experience this evening. After class, my car pool buddies Shane and Rebecca and my instructor Tom Hall had dinner at a little Italian place that Professor Hall suggested. The dinner was delicious, which is an unexpected surprise here in Germany. Did I mention we’re in Germany right now? I’m getting my masters degree human relations and international relations through the University of Oklahoma. I’m currently studying at the NATO base in Geilenkirchen, Germany. Germany is not a foody paradise – especially when you’ve just come from the California Bay Area.
But that is another cross-cultural tale…
The cross-cultural experience happened as I was having a conversation with two other American males. It was interesting to experience how people from the same country can have such different cultures. Professor Hall is the same age as I am. I recently read Generation Me by Jean Twenge who states that factor most likely to dictate cultural values is age. During the first part of this conversation I found this a little hard to believe. Professor Hall starts off a conversation about music with an anecdote about how he knows he has gotten old because one of his past students told him he loved country music, especially old country music. Professor Hall said he loved country music and asked the student which artist. When the student replied Garth Brooks, he knew he had gotten old.
At this point the conversation dove into what was good country music and how country music was good before it sold out. At this point I tried to ease my anxiety by mentioning my love of country musicianship. “They are some of the best musicians,” I said. That was pretty much the extend of my banter when it comes to country and western music. I like some country and western music, but culturally it is not that accessible to me. The good old boys values system is to easily linked in my mind with lynching.
So I’m at this table in a wonderful little Italian restaurant in a quaint German village have dinner with a couple of good old boys. I feeling a little out of place, but my anxiety level hasn’t risen to a level that would cause me to act out. I’m feeling really glad I’m not drinking and I’m able to manage my emotions at this point. I imagine if we were having a conversation about whatever happen to real hip hop they might feel out of place, but this time I’m the one who is once again feeling like an outsider.
The conversation turns to politics. Normally I sit it out when it comes to politics in “mixed” company. My attitude is that America never stopped being a slave colony. They just stopped acknowledging it. I don’t hear this point of view often, so I usually only let it slip when I’m feeling particularly rebellious. Fortunately for me Professor Hall has had a few hefeweizens. Hefeweizens are basically the largest beers you can order in Germany. I’m not saying that’s why he ordered them. Hefeweizens taste fantastic. I’m just saying he had drank a couple when we started talking about political economics.
Shane and Rebecca are a lovely married couple. They are having their first child together. She’s eight months pregnant and glowing. She’s just beautiful right now her eyes are so bright and alive. She seems so sweet. Well Shane and her recently took a political economics class together. And during the class the read the book The End to Poverty by Jeffery Sachs. I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while, and I’m impressed that it’s a part of the cannon in a major university. But it gets the conversation turned to politics, and Professor Hall (two beers in) starts the rant. I love the rant (see slave plantation rant above). It gets to the point where I don’t think the beers are really relevant. We are getting to what he believes. He’s talking about the documentary The Corporation. He’s talking about the movie the Matrix. “We’re in the Matrix right now,” he says. That’s a hard one to disprove as I download my memories into this computer.
“Have you seen V is for Vendetta?” I ask. When he nods and our wide-eyed soon to be parents shake their heads. I realize that I have more in common with this guy, when it comes to values and beliefs than I do with the three African-Americans in the back of the class. Well that’s hard to say without a getting a few hefeweizens in them, but at this point I’m thinking that Jean Twenge’s premise is correct: the era in which someone is born is the biggest determinant of values and beliefs.
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