perspectives
i will not be using any contractions so sorry if my writing seems a bit awkward. i am using a different keyboard and i just do not want to take the time to search for the apostrophe.i have a lot to say that is all backlogging, but little by little it will come out. in response to my last entry, i had the pleasure of speaking with a young Cuencano about machismo. he first defined it as when the man says to the woman, you have to do this and this and this because that is what pleases me. i agreed that this is part of machismo. his primary argument was that it is the women who are at fault for machismo because they are the ones who raise their kids to act this way. in the nature versus nurture category, he obviously fell under nurture. he seemed to believe that people behave as they were taught to.
how one grows up plays a part in his-her behavior as an adult. however, i also believe that humans are capable of searching out what they themselves believe is the right way to live. this of course, might be a question of education, then again it might not, depending on your belief in the power of the human mind.
secondly, is this not machista in itself, to say that women are to blame for machismo? instead of blaming other people for how you behave, think for yourself about what is right. this comment also suggests that fathers play no part in raising kids. while throughout all history and most cultures, women have been the ones responsible for raising kids, fathers should and do play an important part in shaping kids, whether the father is absent or present.
to say that someone else is to blame is so obviously irresponsible and lazy. people are responsible for their actions and for their behavior and how they treat other people.
we spoke in good fun, but i hope this guy realizes that men themselves should take the matter into their own hands, instead of displacing the blame onto women. but i guess people do what is easy rather than what is right.
i have much more to say, in particular about what a different culture Cuenca is and about how much i am in love with the Andean indigenous culture and my little pueblo of Saraguro. but my time has run out. until next time.
posted by leah v @ 7:47 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you on your points about males having an equal role in raising children. I just wanted to add one thing that even furthers your argument. The wife that is supposedly raising a child to behave a certain way is responding to her environment; she is a product of a patriarchal society where women are conditioned to behave in a certain way. It is not really one one specific persons fault or even both parents. The husband did not make this system nor did his wife by existing within it. It was the combined effort of all humans that came before that created this system, and is the combined response to what humans now consider a permanent exterior environment outside themselves, that perpetuates this system.
How do we break the mold? How do we stop the arms race? How do we fix it all? Seems daunting, but I think things are getting better. Humans will keep doing what they always have, that is, try to live. Bit by bit we learn how to live better.
you are optimistic. i suppose that is a good thing. i cant say whether its getting better or not. i see much evil and pain and hurt and greed in the world. i also see much love and giving and care.
as a student of ancient history, its hard to say its getting better. we seem to trap ourselves into cycles of want of power, this is what has happened to all the empires. humans will always do what that have always done, if this is "try to live" then unfortunately, i think we are screwed. the darwinian concept of competition is a terrible philosophy of life. as human beings we are all brothes and sisters, instead of living by the philosophy of "i want more," which leads to ugly acts of aggression that defeat our brothers, i think we should live by "i share what i have" because my brother needs to eat just as much as i do.
not until we see eachother as equals will we live better.
i dont know what you meant by "try to live" but competition was on my mind from a recent conversation.
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