Stereotypes and Issues of communications

Stereotypes a subject I truly have a fascinations with, this started when as a very Germanic looking child I was made fun of for being Mexican, which prior to this provocation I was always proud of being Mexican. However, unlike many other people I have met while abroad I did not struggle or suffer from stereotypes that non-mother tongue English speakers did.

In the Essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan she brings up the issue that society has against non-native English speakers, through the trial and tribulations her mother faces on a daily bases.  A few examples from the text was when on page 3, paragraph 2 when Amy talks about how she would have to help her mother with business negotiations at a very young age because her mother could not be “understood”. Another example is on the same page, ad in paragraph 4 when there was a medical issue and the doctors and nurses would not answer her questions because they supposedly could not understand her despite her being clear with an obvious question about a possible tumor. It took Amy being an intermediary or “Translator” to convince the medical professionals to allow for further information to be given.

In the US alone a census taken in 2011 showed that 60 million people speak a different language then English at home weather it was their first language or not there is still a large population that are second langue English speakers. These people typically go about their day very normally and hardly run into any issues when it comes to functioning properly with basic daily tasks. However, on some occasions especially with major events like medical or financial striates, this has occurred a variety of times with my mother in the USA and in the UAE.

In the USA it wasn’t such an issue because most people are used to and hear lots of Hispanic languages and naturally are raised around it so they can understand and comprehend the message the person is attempting to get across. Or you can heir people who specifically speak the two languages they do, my parents did this with their account, hiring a Portuguese speaking accountant. This went very well however, when we moved to the UAE my mother had countless issues with bank tellers understanding her speech, this was mainly due to them constantly refusing to give her information because she was female. Though they stopped doing this after the first year, allowing my mother to ask for information, but this did not stop the underlying issue of my mother’s accent adjusting her speech. This ended up in many heated rants at tellers who were to afraid to ask her to repeat herself or just didn’t want to spend the effort because they might have assumed she was of lower authority then themselves.

Stereotypes and Issues of communications

Stereotypes a subject I truly have a fascinations with, this started when as a very Germanic looking child I was made fun of for being Mexican, which prior to this provocation I was always proud of being Mexican. However, unlike many other people I have met while abroad I did not struggle or suffer from stereotypes that non-mother tongue English speakers did.

In the Essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan she brings up the issue that society has against non-native English speakers, through the trial and tribulations her mother faces on a daily bases.  A few examples from the text was when on page 3, paragraph 2 when Amy talks about how she would have to help her mother with business negotiations at a very young age because her mother could not be “understood”. Another example is on the same page, ad in paragraph 4 when there was a medical issue and the doctors and nurses would not answer her questions because they supposedly could not understand her despite her being clear with an obvious question about a possible tumor. It took Amy being an intermediary or “Translator” to convince the medical professionals to allow for further information to be given.

In the US alone a census taken in 2011 showed that 60 million people speak a different language then English at home weather it was their first language or not there is still a large population that are second langue English speakers. These people typically go about their day very normally and hardly run into any issues when it comes to functioning properly with basic daily tasks. However, on some occasions especially with major events like medical or financial striates, this has occurred a variety of times with my mother in the USA and in the UAE.

In the USA it wasn’t such an issue because most people are used to and hear lots of Hispanic languages and naturally are raised around it so they can understand and comprehend the message the person is attempting to get across. Or you can heir people who specifically speak the two languages they do, my parents did this with their account, hiring a Portuguese speaking accountant. This went very well however, when we moved to the UAE my mother had countless issues with bank tellers understanding her speech, this was mainly due to them constantly refusing to give her information because she was female. Though they stopped doing this after the first year, allowing my mother to ask for information, but this did not stop the underlying issue of my mother’s accent adjusting her speech. This ended up in many heated rants at tellers who were to afraid to ask her to repeat herself or just didn’t want to spend the effort because they might have assumed she was of lower authority then themselves.

Name(s)

My name, your name, and all others are used to identify everything, from a person, object, creature or place. Names Everyone has one typically given to them by the parents or guardians in regards to first names at birth, and possibly by others in the public in regards to nicknames. Each of these names either occurred from events based on actions of the person or individual events themselves, such as Raphael the painter from the renaissance could have his name given to the son of an artist. The specific origin of certain names is disputed widely throughout different communities who claim the origin they know and are more assured of in that community. Basically in Italy a child might be named Raphael after the painter, and a child born into a Roman Catholic family might name their son Raphael after the Archangel.

            My name Rafael, the one name only 1 in 10 people will spell or pronounce the first time they meet me, I’m unfortunately being honest on this matter eating at any fast food restaurant means by the time I receive my meal I will have a new name. Whether my name is Raphael, Rapheal, Reafal I’ve just learned to identify with any name that starts with an R. But when I’m with my family I go by Raf or Rafael after one of my thousands of relatives, I never really met the guy, or am I 100% certain that I was named after him *shrug*. I guess the other alternative is Rafael or Raphael, which is from Judaism or Catholicism. Raphael is an Archangel, the name directly translates into “Healer from God”, No pressure right? So basically I was told that when I was very young so in some ways I guess it made me slightly paranoid and very conscious of my actions around others.

            I felt for the majority of my life was spent trying to help others and overly concerning about others lives and their well being. In the past year and a half I just started to care about myself and others in proper proportions. My whole life was shaped by my name and the meaning behind it and it wasn’t until yesterday that I realized that it did.

Obesity And America

Obesity - Being 20% over one's natural body weight or more.

            - a BMI of approx 30 or higher

            - Being Physically impaired by weight stopping  an individual from carrying out their daily                     functions to ensure the wellbeing of themselves or others around them.

This new endemic on society is not a great plague being transferred through the air or sum zombie rising virus, it's our own self destructive tendencies one of the largest ones affecting people worldwide is obesity. This "condition" has affected hundreds of millions and shows no sign of going into any form of remission, it just continuously grows and consumes every sustainable person with money and free time. In many ways obesity is a gateway conditions first being easily stopped but if ignored or overlooked can lead to serious life threatening conditions far more extreme than itself, such as fatty liver disease, a multitude of heart diseases, diabetes and even possibly cancer. Now I wanted to inform you of this because it will be the main topic of discussion in today's blog post, Obesity in America.

Quick question if i ask you to think of the physical attribute of an american, what's the first three things that pop into your head?

Number one is most likely Americans being fat, and if not the first then the second would be the same and in the unlikely event you think so fondly of us it's probably the the third.

Now when I say American i'm sure all of you know i mean someone in the United States of America not are polite neighbors in the north or the party goers in the south. (Also not the cartels and gangs in the middle, and no that’s not racist because as the broken system of society says, “One cannot be racist against or towards one’s own race)

So now that i have set the stage and burned through approximately 320 of the needed 250 words I believe this is a good of time as any to describe the real matter at hand, which is “All American’s are Fat (obese)”

Now I used to find this statement preposterous being from america myself I was a very prideful young boy keen on excitement and thrill. Also I only lived in the USA for 6 years and struggle with memory issues, which may have caused me not to realise that around one in three people in the USA are considered overweight or obese. However, I digress I never really thought that it was true even recently I have been skeptical pondering the true gravity that the statement holds and if it is even possible. To my dismay this summer I discovered the ugly truth that is the obesity problem the the USA, the one that was not just a stereotype but the truth.

Many people in America avoid the topic or claim some form of body shaming when it is mentioned, hell people just downright avoid it in it’s entirety from fear of hate or fear of the self loathing brought along with being obese. Many people develop coping mechanisms to deal with the stress and anxiety of obesity, unfortunately many people’s methods are more destructive than positive and can involve self harm through cutting, beating or compulsive eating. These methods tend to set the individual back on the same destructive path, and in many cases it seems like there is no way out, like being trapped in a box with the walls constantly closing in.

So, what do you think? This simple stereotype like many others are based on an unfortunate truth. Should we overlook this? Should we let ourselves become numb to this way of life?

(Now this little part is to all you people out there thinking “wasn’t the task to find a stereotype and write about how it was misconceived” and to that I say I have, many people don’t think about how doomed the world is and how it’s not just america. Even Abu Dhabi has an approximately 30% obesity rate, this isn’t just America folks it’s the whole world.)