Monday, July 6, 2009

Daughters of Samoa: "Excuse me but your ignorance is showing" by samoanwoman

[So my usually easy-going son comes home in a huff today from his last class at the university. Gives me a peck on the cheek and then pulls out a textbook and says, “Mom, what do you think of this?”
Excerpt from Winitzky:Then the kids start playing tag, running circles around the seating area, and yelling gleefully. No adult response-you are amazed, and struggle to resist the urge to quiet the children.....You are caught in the middle of a conflict of cultures-yours and the Pacific Islanders’…What do you do in this situation?”]
Blogger Samoanwoman basically writes this blog to answer her son's question and in one simple word, she is simply infuritated with Mr. Winitzky's false perception of the samoan/polynesian culture on the issue of respect/discipline, "the total ignorance of some people completely amazes me!"
After the son reads the excerpt from Mr.Winitzky, the reader can immediately sensed samoanwomans tone and expression toward Mr.Winitzkyz's book.She conveys strong emotions against Mr. Winitzkys description of samoan concept of respect"[...]I too was now practically foaming at the mouth".
Samoanwoman clearly states her distate and dislike towards Mr. Winitzkys 'false perception' toward the samoan culture. Mr. Winitzkys basically describes how samoan kids are rowdy and uncontrollable, and Samoanwoman defends the the entire samoan culture by stating, "We don’t let our kids get out of hand, if anything we err too much the other way. I can’t picture a Samoan or Pacific Islander parent that lets their kid behave like a hooligan during such an event. It’s not Samoan kids or Pacific Islander kids that throw tantrums and fits, it’s not Pacific Islander kids that tell their parents to “shut, the f*** up."
Whats interesting about this blog is that not only does samoanwoman defend the samoan/polyensian culture, but we also see the son refute the story from the book. According to the son he states "can tell you that my parents raised me to be respectful and to behave and I can also tell you that knowing what I know of Pacific Islanders because I am one, there is no Pacific Islander parent under the face of the sun that would tolerate these kinds of behaviors from their kids. He clearly uses vivid descriptions of how disciplined samoan children are, "If anything, that kind of behavior would have been nipped immediately either by the parent giving them “the look” or even a smack right then and there if they don’t get the message.” Giving the reader a pretty good idea of how strict and discipline the samoan culture is.
Her analogy of Samoans in regards to respect is clearly described as "We come out of the womb breathing respect, for crying out loud". She continues reiterates how "No Pacific Islander parent would continue to just sit back “looking serenely up at the speaker on the stage” while their children are wreaking havoc during an important ceremony. Unlike some cultures, Pacific Islanders do know what it means to have respect."
Along with her strong opposition towards Mr. Winitzky she adds a spice of sarcasm which shows the irony of what he was trying to describe how respect is the first thing that one thinks of when they think about Western culture.
We see from this blog, that samoanwoman is very passionate bout her position and her disagreement with Mr. Winitzkys outlook on Samoan parenting. As you can see, her only main defense against Mr. Winitzky is her experience as a child and her role as a parent and her son's childhood experience as well.

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