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Colonial Elitest Attitudes?
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Mchristophermsw



Joined: 14 Apr 2005
Posts: 228
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:57 am    Post subject: Colonial Elitest Attitudes? Reply with quote
I was at a party last night and the conversation came up about living overseas. The first person was talking about Belize and how scarred she was and the poverty ( all the while making icky faces). The next person mention how she loved Jamaica and I asked devilishly, were Kingston? and she replied "no, Montego Bay" (yeah, like that is really Jamiaca) and went on to talk about the poverty outside her compound.

Anyhow that seemed to be the theme as more and more Americans shared about their travels (Vacations). And I must mention the many put downs about standards of living in these other countries with these "poor people", however, the word "poor" referred more to their lot in life compared to Americans.

Any how this really heated me up, I then went into a short politcal science lesson and informed them about the damage the IMF and World Bank has done in these countries..ruining local economies and fostering poverty on massive scale in name sake of Global Trade.

I try to consider myself very culturally competent and sensitive and it was disheartning to see this air of supremacy among people that I thought I new.

What do you all think forum? and have you ever had any similar experiences with such elitist attitudes.
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dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
and have you ever had any similar experiences with such elitist attitudes.
Ever been to a garden party at a British Consolate?
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Mchristophermsw



Joined: 14 Apr 2005
Posts: 228
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
DMB,

Never been to one of those parties but I can imagine what goes on.

I guess last night just hit me a little hard because I felt ashamed for these people in the conversation. Heck, maybe I just felt sad for their ignorance.
Whatever it was, I walked away feeling disconnected and ill feeling in my stomach.
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dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Alot of that expat crowd look down on efl teachers as much as they look down on locals Crying or Very sad
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ls650



Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Colonial Elitest Attitudes? Reply with quote
Mchristophermsw wrote:
and have you ever had any similar experiences with such elitist attitudes.

Those colonial types aren't the only ones with elitist attitudes.
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Mark Loyd



Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
dmb wrote:
Alot of that expat crowd look down on efl teachers as much as they look down on locals Crying or Very sad


Can you blame them? The British Community Council or Association or whatever it is called spend a lot of time organising it and look forward to a great day out in those beautiful gardens. Every year a load of drunk teflers come along and hijack it. The teflers do not donate anything or help organise it but take advantage of it. One year I went a group of tefl teachers wanted to p iss in the little church. It took a lot of doing by a decent person to stop them actually doing it. Teflers are despised and rightly so.
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Ben Round de Bloc



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1946
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Colonial Elitest Attitudes? Reply with quote
Mchristophermsw wrote:
Anyhow that seemed to be the theme as more and more Americans shared about their travels (Vacations). And I must mention the many put downs about standards of living in these other countries with these "poor people", however, the word "poor" referred more to their lot in life compared to Americans. . . .

What do you all think forum? and have you ever had any similar experiences with such elitist attitudes.

No, not really.

Someone sharing his/her observations about mass poverty in a foreign country doesn't automatically equal put-downs and an elitist attitude, in my opinion. Also, if a person's remarks come across as put-downs and elitist, I don't think it would be all that different from many comments people make about people living in poverty in their home countries: comments that some Americans make about other Americans living in poverty or comments that some Mexicans make about other Mexicans living in poverty, for example. Elitist attitudes aren't limited only to vacationers from developed nations and their opinions about people in other countries.

Additionally, assuming that you've lived for an extended period of time (at least a few years) in one place in a foreign country where poverty is prevalent, I imagine that you have a deeper personal understanding of its impact and complexities in that location than someone who has only vacationed or spent a few months living in that place. Personally, I try not to be too critical of people who've spent only a short time where I live and think they have a comprehensive understanding of the local socio-economic situation, including causes and cures. Even with my limited understanding after living here for almost a decade, I've come to realize that poverty here is an extremely complex issue.
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Jyulee



Joined: 01 May 2005
Posts: 81
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
While saying "poor people in poor countries are poor because they are lazy/inferior to us" would certainly amount to racism "colonial imperialism", in my books, is like saying "these people are so much lower than us that we should control them".