God no does it soooooooo not at all ROFL! It's one of the things in my life that is an aspect of every single day. I'm in a world where people are not my same background and I can't assume they will be and can't... understand... so much of it.
And yet at the end of the day they seem to feel the same emotions as I do and laugh the same joyful laugh or cry the same hurting tears.
So... Heh, I have kinda, not so much given up trying but given up thinking I CAN every understand someone else's culture and how that has shaped them.
I just keep trying, coz it's amazing how much trying is so powerful at creating connections and a sense of trust and community and security in everyone involved.
Also.... I think one of the hardest bits of the whole shebang is - Where do you draw the line between ok and not ok?
I mean really? An story of a culture and people and what they USED to do and why, is yeah tell your story. Don't expect everyone to see what you do in it but try and explain why you see what YOU see and listen to others when they tell you what they saw in your story, when it isn't their culture.
But irl if that were to be done to a child now? er... no.
But there's so many things. Like female "circumcision" or how locally the aboriginal people marry the young girls off VERY young to older men. It's pedophilia. It's a supposed continuation of their culture, but it's also a culture that has gone through so much degradation and corruption and missionising and infiltration of predators, is that REALLY what happened? And is that REALLY ok in the here and now?
I think the answer to the first is that they did marry them off young to older men, but that was more like arranged marriages and the men didn't get to go near the girls till they were women. But I also think the age difference might not be like to the point of pedophila creepiness either.
But I don't know. I only listen to people who have worked and lived with people who are claiming this as their culture. And I could be misremembering anyway.
The thing is... I vividly remember a black woman on TV news saying "This is NOT OUR CULTURE. Our culture does NOT condone pedophilia. This is a story created by Pedophiles in our community to get away with raping our girls."
And I also know the girls would come in from community to here for schooling, boarding here and going back each holidays.
And they'd run away before the end of the term, try and disappear, so they didn't have to go home to the old man they were 'married' to to be raped by them.
So...
There's a clear line there to me. And even if there wasn't, culturally, our laws as a country make pedophilia illegal. Line.
God no does it soooooooo not at all ROFL! It's one of the things in my life that is an aspect of every single day. I'm in a world where people are not my same background and I can't assume they will be and can't... understand... so much of it.
And yet at the end of the day they seem to feel the same emotions as I do and laugh the same joyful laugh or cry the same hurting tears.
So... Heh, I have kinda, not so much given up trying but given up thinking I CAN every understand someone else's culture and how that has shaped them.
I just keep trying, coz it's amazing how much trying is so powerful at creating connections and a sense of trust and community and security in everyone involved.
Also.... I think one of the hardest bits of the whole shebang is - Where do you draw the line between ok and not ok?
I mean really? An story of a culture and people and what they USED to do and why, is yeah tell your story. Don't expect everyone to see what you do in it but try and explain why you see what YOU see and listen to others when they tell you what they saw in your story, when it isn't their culture.
But irl if that were to be done to a child now? er... no.
But there's so many things. Like female "circumcision" or how locally the aboriginal people marry the young girls off VERY young to older men. It's pedophilia.
It's a supposed continuation of their culture, but it's also a culture that has gone through so much degradation and corruption and missionising and infiltration of predators, is that REALLY what happened?
And is that REALLY ok in the here and now?
I think the answer to the first is that they did marry them off young to older men, but that was more like arranged marriages and the men didn't get to go near the girls till they were women. But I also think the age difference might not be like to the point of pedophila creepiness either.
But I don't know. I only listen to people who have worked and lived with people who are claiming this as their culture. And I could be misremembering anyway.
The thing is... I vividly remember a black woman on TV news saying "This is NOT OUR CULTURE. Our culture does NOT condone pedophilia. This is a story created by Pedophiles in our community to get away with raping our girls."
And I also know the girls would come in from community to here for schooling, boarding here and going back each holidays.
And they'd run away before the end of the term, try and disappear, so they didn't have to go home to the old man they were 'married' to to be raped by them.
So...
There's a clear line there to me. And even if there wasn't, culturally, our laws as a country make pedophilia illegal. Line.
Eh...
Heck, it's not a black and white world is it!!!
Reply
Leave a comment