Funny Hats

[kateorman]

Prodded by judiang :), I'd like to air some more thoughts about Elizabeth Moon's posting about Park51, continuing in the same spirit of respectful disagreement as before. (This may take a few postings - there's a lot of think about - so bear with me. And thank you hugely for making it possible for me to do this, by commenting assertively but not

Comments

[pbristow]

Thankyou for taking the time and effort to do this.

Yes, the "familiar/different" disparity in how we evaluate things and how much attention we pay to them is a big factor in all of this - and in all forms of prejudice, IMHO. The "so that's Jazz, is it? I don't like it!"/"Oh my god, not more Jazz!" factor, if you will. =:o\

"those who are the least comfy with the unfamiliar are not the new arrivals, but the white people nervously watching them arrive - or passing laws to keep them out."

Again, spot on, I'd say (says the Brit, living in a still mostly white nation that likes to assume the blacks folks and muslims only live in particular towns and regions, and gets confused when they turn up elsewhere, or talking posh, or brandishing law degrees...). After all, those who have left home (for whatever reason) and travelled to a new land *expect* to find things different when they get there: They've had at least that journey time to steel themselves for the fact that things are going to weird. The folks who haven't budged an inch, and suddenly have something unusual turn up: they're the folks who kick up a fuss. And those who've just arrived are having to spend all day, everyday adjusting to many, many new things. The folks who are already here only have to deal with an occasioanl encounter with strangeness amidst a life that's otherwise ticking along as usual. The "So that's Jazz is it?/Not *more* Jazz!" factor kicks in.

Add to this the privileged assumption that anyone arriving from overseas must have chosen to do so (so often not the case!), and can always choose to go elsewhere, e.g. back where they came from, if they don't like the way we do things around here...

Add to this the whole irony that the USA was built in part from a whole bunch of little colonies, all with their own distinctive cultures and religious views & practices, who arrived there 'cos they didn't fit in back home and had to run away! Yes, they *gradually* became more similar and basically assimilated each other, keeping only the differences that caused the fewest rucktions between them and learning to just ignore or indulge any "those people are weird"-nesses that were left... but that's a process that happens over generations of co-existence, not overnight. And of course, still isn't complete. =:o\

[kateorman]

Thankyou for taking the time and effort to do this.

Oh, erm, thanks. #^__^# It's a bit basic, but it's a start. Once you start thinking about this stuff, the words just sort of chew their way out of your head.

basically assimilated each other

Oh, I love that. :D