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Cultural differences, they slay me

shadowspar: Picture of Kurama lashing out with a rose whip (kurama - rose whip)
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 23:30

This...just...I don't even know where to start with this. And it's not even something horrible, it's...well...I'll just tell the story.

Anyway, this guy apparently had a buddy blow his mind with a "fucking brilliant" vacation responder. Go check it out, then come back.

Apparently "off the grid" means something radically different to me than it means to them, because here an "I'm off the grid" vacation message would look more like

Hi. I'm currently out of the office for an off-the-grid vacation in Lake Superior Provincial Park. If you have a really, truly urgent matter that needs an immediate response from me, you are out of luck, because there's not a chance in hell that I'm going to have any kind of usable cellphone signal where I am. Knowing this, if you still need to get a hold of me, you are going to have to come up with something damn good -- good enough to convince the park rangers to tramp several dozen kilometers through the wilderness after me and pull me out of the bush. Good luck! Cheers, Rick

To be clear, I don't think that Kopelman or Feld are somehow wrong or outlandish; I'm glad they have their autoresponder and it works for them. They just live in a very, very different world from the one in which I reside.

  • Current Mood: v.tired
  • Current Music: SCANDAL - Girlism
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Military blah

shadowspar: An angry anime swordswoman, looking as though about to smash something (Default)
Thursday, September 30th, 2010 00:28

I tried for hours to form my experiences around camaraderie and the good ol' boys club in the military into a comment that would fit with this Geekfeminism post, but I couldn't manage to pull it together.

The phrase "This Man's Army" is very much appropriate to the military of today (or, at least, the Canadian Army of 1997, when I got out). By and large, it's still very much a white, male, heterosexist institution, but there are a lot more subtleties than an overarching summary would have you think, including a lot of pockets of very inclusive, principled, and thoughtful people.

Indeed, after a fashion, the military is a cornucopia of extremes. I saw humanity at its best and at its worst many a time during my short, part-time stint there. Young soldiers -- kids, really -- punished by being humiliated in front of their peers. Rumours that our WO had been passed over for promotion because he was black. But too, the noble parts -- soldiers standing up for an excellent officer when others tried to slag him because he was gay. Grizzled old sergeants admonishing junior NCOs not to address their charges as 'guys' -- "Call them troops! 'Guys' is sexist." Soldiers on a course rallying around a colleague who'd been harassed by one of her instructors.

I learned a lot there -- about myself, about others; about what it means to be honourable. That's one thing that can certainly be said about it.

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Random humourous interlude

shadowspar: An angry anime swordswoman, looking as though about to smash something (Default)
Sunday, September 19th, 2010 00:28

While the world is home to an incredible diversity of people and cultures, in a sense we are all much more similar than we are different. People like good conversation over a nice meal, wish the best for their family and friends, and hope to live a full life. Some things transcend linguistic or cultural barriers -- music, a smile, and sometimes even humour.

  • Current Mood: amused
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