My next door neighbour is from a small village in India.
He came over here not so long ago to an arranged marriage to his beautiful wife.
I was talking to hima whil ago and made a joke about Elvis having left the building.
He replied Elvis who?
I said you know Elvis Presley "The King","The White Nigger",you know Heartbreak Hotel and several hundred other hits.
He said no he didn't know this man.
I was astounded, dumbfounded even.
So I asked what about the Beatles?
He looked at me blankly.
You know "I wanna hold your hand", Sergeant Peppers,Fab Four, Mop Tops....
Sorry he said.
They worked with Ravi Shanker....
Oh this man I have heard of, he replied.
We make so many cultural assumptions, not just and people from different places but from different time periods as well.
My Indian neighbour speaks english pretty well but knows no Rock n' Roll.
I have had a similer experiences with other friends who you do a Doctor Smith and the robot impersonation at (from the 1960s TV show lost in space) and they look at you blankly.They never saw it ,only the film version which was quite different.
Which just goes to prove the old saying
"Don't assume -it makes an ass out of U and me".
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In which a humble musician and raconteur investigates blogging and podcasting and other buzzwords in order to better equip his student with pearls of wisdom on these black arts .
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- Peter Podcast
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2 comments:
"...danger Will Robinson...danger..."
I don't suppose you asked your neighbor if he's heard of The Church? Seriously, I wonder if he's heard of Michael Jackson? You'd think The Beatles would be globally known, but I get your point. I've had a few similar experiences myself. I recently read an article from a magazine columnist, all wired into the modern world, who spent four days deep in the (Peruvian, I think) Amazon. No cell phone signals there, etc. His point was that it was quite cleansing. I feel somewhat the same way when I go to our family's lake cabin in northern Minnesota and stay offline for a few days. It's too easy to get tunnel vision and sit in front of a computer too much.
Oh thats just too sad!! no Beatles or Lost in Space. Bob Dylan??? I mean, I was taken aback recently when a 25yr old looked at me blankly when I mentioned Status Quo. No cultural difference, just an age difference! You just forget that that sort of info isnt in their memory banks... the kids I teach who werent even born when ... "insert a million different things".
If we ever meet Im going to ask to see that Dr Smith and the robot impersonations y'know.
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