In Psych class

Something along the lines of this question was raised-- Does culture/race affect human behavior.

Some people were so quick to say No. I believe that the people who are quick to answer this question, and furthermore, decide to answer with a No are very disillusioned, perhaps too optimistic and naive about the world that we live in. No to typecast, but I would sooner say second-generation-plus kids, are more likely than others to easily think this way. Those who are too into the idea of becoming Americanized. The way they judge this question is very superficial. They only take into account their beliefs, and they think that just because they themselves can act and behave in such a way that their native culture does not shine through and is not reflected in their lifestyle, then culture does not affect their behavior.

My belief is that, though you can control whether or not you connect with your culture--yes, you can evade practicing traditions, you can avoid having friends that are like you--but, you cannot control what others think of you. As humans, we judge a book by its cover. Physical differences stand out most, and we readily pick them out as indicators and justifications for segregation and carving out ethnic boundaries.

Our behavior is ultimately shaped by human experience. Looking further, our human experience depends very much on our culture and race. Perhaps we may shun our heritage, but others pick up on differences in physical appearance. That in turn affects how they decide to treat us. Even though, as learned in Anthropology, race is an invalid idea and is merely a social construction, the world is not in on it yet. And even as a student of Anthropology, I don't know how much education it will take to sway me out of thinking the way the rest of the world does about cultural difference. The whole world has been conditioned to viewing race as a point of difference among its people. Sure, it's not a valid justification for viewing people differently, because we are more similar among than within populations, but you really cannot deny the deception of your eyes and the results of human adaptation, tricking us into believing we have different categories of race and that we are different based on our skin color. It doesn't make sense scientifically, but it will be a long winding road in trying to depart from that line of thinking.

You can't escape cultural differences. It is not a reason for segregation, but it is a means for diversity and variance. And that's a hard line to really define. Which all the more confirms, for me, the wonderment of Life and its inexplicable, ungraspable complexities. My throat is so dry and scratchy. I have a speech Monday, and I should have spent the day preparing. I guess I'm an unchanged procrastinator still.