Stereotypes

I was surfing the net in search of information on this topic when I found this definition of stereotype:
“a single statement or attitude about a group of people that does not recognize the complex, multidimensional nature of human beings.”
Even though we, human beings, must simply accept that stereotypes are mainly negative and have to agree that they are generally unjust and deceptive, we still persist in proving how unfair is “a simplified and fixed image of all members of a culture or group”; and when trying to show that, only from time to time, we encounter examples that make us wonder.
Last year the CNNNY TV offered their viewers a video of American people answering “general knowledge” questions in the middle of the street. I am not going to describe what purpose they had in mind when they made the video, you can judge yourselves.

While watching the video, you were probably amused and astonished to see all those passers-by unable to articulate correct answers. Most of the questions were quite basic and obvious, but others were not so evident. I suggest that you should try to answer them, but keep in mind that you will be under no pressure, so you can do that at your own pace.

Name a country that begins with U.
Who is in the coalition of the willing?
What is the religion of Israel?

What religion are Buddhist Monks?

Who won the Vietnam War?

Who is Fidel Castro?

How many sides does a triangle have?

What is the currency used in the United Kingdom?

Koffee Annan is a coffee drink, true?
Who is Tony Blair?
Which countries are in the Axis of Evil?
Who was the first man on the moon?

What is a Mosque?

How many kidneys does a person have?

What is collateral damage?

How many World Wars have there been?

Which state does KFC come from?

Star Wars is based on a true story, true?

What are Hiroshma and Nagasaki famous for?

Where is the West Bank?

How many Eiffel Towers are in Pairs?

What is Al-Qaeda?

Where was the Berlin Wall?

The language spoken in Latin America is Latin, true?

Now you can compare your own ideas with these video-answers.

However, if you think that something like could only have happened in USA, watch these two other videos where European citizens are asked quite elementary questions and are not able to give the right answers, either.

I really believe that making genalizations about countries and nationalities does not help to understand each other better, and I complete agree with this person’s opinion that “we all stereotype and sometimes the stereotype image is true, partially true and sometimes it is false. Many nationalities share similar traits and behaviors that lead to stereotyping. Is this bad? No I do not think so, but the problem is that many people stop there. The human animal is complex and is changing faster as technology and communication spreads. We are becoming more homogeneous than before. Is this bad? I think not, as long as we can appreciate our cultural heritage.
If we find ourselves stereotyping, we must also take the effort to look beyond, all people are unique, even though they may share certain stereotypical behaviors.” (taken from  englishclub.com forum)

A puzzle to solve, by Lorena Requena 1ºI-NI

Lorena has sent this interesting puzzle for us to try to solve. Thank you for making us rack our brains!

GAME 1: What do you think about it?

A young and beautiful woman felt sad. Her husband didn’t pay attention to her because he was working all day.
One day, while her husband was away on a journey, she went with her lover who lived on the other side of the river. The next day, she wanted to come back home before her husband did. But she found a few problems.
On the bridge there was a madman and he told her that he would kill her if she crossed the bridge.
In the river there was a boatman. She didn’t have money to pay him and she said to him that if he helped her to cross the river then, when they were on the other side, she would pay him because she had the money at home. The boatman said: “No, first the money, then we’ll cross the river”. She turned to her lover who didn’t want to help her.
The woman was hopeless. She remembered a friend who lived near there and she went to see him. They had been friends since childhood and he was in love with her since then. The woman told him all her story and her problem but the friend didn’t give her the money because he was disappointed with her.
Finally she decided to cross the bridge and the madman killed the woman.

Who was responsible for the woman’s death?
The husband? The lover? The friend? The boatman? The madman? Or the woman?

How can I improve my writing?

Whenever I hand out your writing tests after grading them, a helpless-looking face asks me that question. I wish I had a quick, sure and effective formula for improving writing skills, but I can’t help thinking that reading and writing, writing and reading,… is the way to success.

There are some good sites which can help you on your journey to better written English.  I recommend you this one today.

Scary radio

On the Halloween night of October 31st 1938, a radio broadcast  by the CBS caused widespread fear and panic among Americans as they believed a Martian invation was actually taking place and the end of the world was at hand.

(Listen to an audio clip of events at Grover’s Mill)

“At 8.00 PM people across the country listened to the radio to hear a version of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. This was read by Orson Wells and part of the Mercury On The Air Theater. This particular evening it was performed and portrayed as a news breaking interruption from the regular scheduled programmed. Martains were invading Earth and decided to land in a small N.J. town near Princeton called Grover’s Mill. This was chosen simply by random on a map. However, the moment coincided  with a musical interlude on a competing and more-popular broadcast. Millions of early channel surfers never heard the introductions and disclaimers at the beginning of the broadcast. For them the alien invasion was very real indeed” (taken from http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/index.htm)

But how could a radio performance of a version of science fiction novel produce such a feeling of fear and prevent people from thinking clearly? Several reasons have been considered, but undoubtedly the most important was that “people at the time were ready to believe that what they heard from a trusted source was the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.

Now, seventy years later, we have many different sources of information to choose from and compare, but does that make us -common people- feel less vulnerable sometimes before those who decide what we should or should not know?

Halloween history

I had been doubting whether to include a post about Halloween, but the moment I had made up my mind and decided not to, this presentation appeared quite out of the blue. (Thanks Sunnyme for sharing)

I think it’s a clear summary. Of course there are hundreds of sites, but this is just a little introduction to the topic.