Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

Supple Cow · 02-28-2004, 03:48 PM

This makes me think of my biology class, oddly enough. One of our first lectures was on the issue of scale in life: that all life is scale dependent. To give an example, humans are pretty big so our world is dominated by gravity, but microscopic organisms live in a world where viscosity rules - air and water can feel like vaseline or even thicker to a little 'un, while we can walk and swim through them with ease because of our size. (Okay, I'm going to start relating this to what you're talking about soon.)

I think it's basic human nature to want to match our environment (the people who surround us) to a great extent in the interest of not standing out and being an outsider. This is why when went to the Philippines, a drastically different environment than here in the States, it made you uncomfortable. It showed you how comfortable you had become in your lifestyle here in the States and how being in this environment has changed you. (So much I gather from what you've said; I'm not trying to put words in your mouth or anything.) I'm pilipino too, and I went to Japan a few years ago, where I wasn't exposed to as much poverty (and the skinnyness that comes with it) and everything just turned out to be comforting because things were my size!

I'm doing a bad job of relating this all to your story, but I guess it just made me think of these things. Another thing it made me think of was the associations in Pilipino culture of fat with money. My relatives there are also pretty well off, and everytime my sisters or I go to visit, they all tell us that we should be eating more because we're skin and bone. This, coming from our ninangs (godmothers) who are the closest thing the Philippines has to obese. I wonder if they consciously associate their girth with their wealth.

Anyway, interesting thoughts. Thanks for starting the thread.

02-28-2004, 03:48 PM	#13 (permalink)
Supple Cow Americow, the Beautiful Location: Washington, D.C.	This makes me think of my biology class, oddly enough. One of our first lectures was on the issue of scale in life: that all life is scale dependent. To give an example, humans are pretty big so our world is dominated by gravity, but microscopic organisms live in a world where viscosity rules - air and water can feel like vaseline or even thicker to a little 'un, while we can walk and swim through them with ease because of our size. (Okay, I'm going to start relating this to what you're talking about soon.) I think it's basic human nature to want to match our environment (the people who surround us) to a great extent in the interest of not standing out and being an outsider. This is why when went to the Philippines, a drastically different environment than here in the States, it made you uncomfortable. It showed you how comfortable you had become in your lifestyle here in the States and how being in this environment has changed you. (So much I gather from what you've said; I'm not trying to put words in your mouth or anything.) I'm pilipino too, and I went to Japan a few years ago, where I wasn't exposed to as much poverty (and the skinnyness that comes with it) and everything just turned out to be comforting because things were my size! I'm doing a bad job of relating this all to your story, but I guess it just made me think of these things. Another thing it made me think of was the associations in Pilipino culture of fat with money. My relatives there are also pretty well off, and everytime my sisters or I go to visit, they all tell us that we should be eating more because we're skin and bone. This, coming from our ninangs (godmothers) who are the closest thing the Philippines has to obese. I wonder if they consciously associate their girth with their wealth. Anyway, interesting thoughts. Thanks for starting the thread. __________________ "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." (Michael Jordan)