Will the real person please stand up? *

2007-07-10 10:53 p.m.

Both of them wear western clothes—jeans, shorts, skirts, shirts and tops from famous branches like Zara, Mango, Calvin Klein and so on. Yet one speaks with a distinct accent of a western country, claims he/she is from places like New York, Cambridge, Paris, or Sydney. This person can gorge down food from these countries while having little or no consumption of his own ethic food. This person’s social circle is largely that of westerners. His counterpart resides (whether permanently or temporarily) in these western cities too. Yet, this other person prefers to stay with those of his own race, speak his own mother tongue and eats his own country’s food. Will the real person please stand up?

“Person”, as you would have surmised, refers to those of non-western origin. Now, this is not a racist post nor is the author none. However, this is more an observation and quite a growing trend. The next word that no doubt comes to mind is the big “G”—Globalisation, the answer to the two types of individuals described above. Yet these two persons appeared long ago, even before the rapid development and expansion of communication and trade. Let’s look at them.

Person A, the non western who acts so much like a westerner is no doubt mostly second generation born, with parents who struggled to make it to the shores of these countries. This person has assimilated so because his (I shall the male pronoun) environment demanded so and shaped them so. The advantage no doubt is an almost ease in communication with Westerners, whether it be socially or formally. He is quite in tune with different pronunciations, possibly the different slangs and traditional customs of the country. He is no doubt of different colour from his western associates, but with the barriers of language and culture removed, relationships and friendships are easier to create.

What Person A may not have is some knowledge of himself and who he is. I mean, looking directly at him, and not noticing his mannerisms and accent, he is your ordinary Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arab, Muslim, Eastern European Russian or even African. Amongst the conversations you have with him, you may just bring up stuff about his language or food or culture. Will he then be able answer stuff? If you have learnt several parts of his mother tongue, would he fumble over it or be able to reply to you? Has he lost what he original lost and can he been what he has been shaped with?

His counterpart, Person B, may just have recently entered the country or may have resided there as long as Person A. Yet, he is only at home with his own language, people, food and other aspects distinct of his culture. Yes, he speaks passable English/French/German, but that may be accompanied with a heavy accent, and the pronunciation may be slightly off. He may commit a few faux pas at the table. Is he at a lower starting point than his counterpart?

Possibly, since he seems to be secluded in his world. He may be failing in the sense of not engaging the world he came to, not willing to venture out from a hole. Yet, there is no said law that mixing only with your own kind is criminal. In fact, Chinatowns, Indian/Pakistani enclaves, areas filled with Arabic or Eastern smells and hardware complement that of any country , given the idea of a global community. One should not be immediately faulty languages. Yet one must not reside back in only one small arena, and fail to improve himself even though he has chosen that country to stay in. The citizens may in fact not treat you equally if you stay in that position. Worse, one should not hold the “high” position that one’s country, one’s way of life is so much better than anyone else’s. That would in fact, create negative responses.

Back to the question above, who is the really person then? I suppose neither, if we hold on to the word Globalisation. The perfect individual would be the “Global Individual”. This person, regardless of ethnic background, would be able to fit into any country, any city and act as if he was part of them, yet retain everything that he was originally. Both person A and B can work towards this sort of person.

Again, this is not a racist post, be just a minute thought. It can be classified with the growing impact of the cultural side of globalisation.

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