--- In [email protected], Angela Mailander <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The statement about attention span was a general statement based on stats. Statistics predict tendencies in systems---never individuals. That Americans have a short attention span is something the rest of the world kind of knows about us---my guess is that this has something to do with the fact that we watch more TV than anyone else. Kids in other countries tend not to have attention deficit disorder to the extent our do. But that can't be the only reason.>
There are no such statistics, this is just prejudice and ethno-centric snobbery. I have lived in other countries and people's attention spans cannot be summed up by country. With your deep knowledge of where this leads I am surprised that you would embrace a negative stereotype about a certain culture's cognitive abilities. You are buying into a perspective that other countries use to take shots at the US. "Well they may be the richest country in the world but they have short attention spans." People in different countries are shaped by their culture and beliefs in certain ways but not in cognitive abilities. If you want to sum up a culture's qualities you can observe their customs. For example my Thai friends are influenced by their background not to show anger directly. Most, but not all Thais are influenced by this value system concerning saving "face". But among my Thai friends, some have deep powers of concentration and some of their minds flitter around like little birds. " Europeans accused us of this trait back in the 19th century as well. Back then it was based on the notion that Americans don't have much historical consciousness. For us history begins with Columbus and then skips to the Revolutionary War. We tend not to see the present moment as containing within it Roman times and earlier." Educated people are aware of historical influences on the present in every country. Uneducated people are the same everywhere. Living in Paris doesn't make anyone think deeply. > > Peoples do have characteristics, just as individuals do. Obviously, this fact cannot accurately be used to characterize individuals. Germans for instance, tend to be pretty anal. That can be annoying as hell, but, on the other hand, it also makes them some of the most thorough scholars in the world. The American short attention span also has an upside: Americans tend not to be burdened by history. Living in the moment is not necessarily a bad thing, is it? a Here you are on to something but I don't believe it is due to our short attention spans. We are shaped by the cultural values of letting things go and moving one. It is part of the progressiveness of our culture. In the Mid East they are shaped by a cultural tradition of revenge and remembering past wrongs so the next generation can deliver payback. This is a cultural value passed on. Here is a wonderful book on the subject about a woman whose father was shot by a Palestinian who went undercover to meet the man and his family who did it. http://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Story-Hope-Laura-Blumenfeld/dp/0684853167 >From Publishers Weekly At its heart, this remarkable tale is a rite-of-passage story, an intense and deeply personal journey. For newlywed and successful Washington Post reporter Blumenfeld in 1998, life appeared to be just about perfect. But she had a score to settle. In 1986, the same year her mother declared she wanted a divorce, her father was shot by a Palestinian terrorist while visiting Israel. Fortunately, the young man had poor aim. But the impact on Blumenfeld was dramatic. That year, as a college student, she wrote a poem in which she addressed the shooter: "this hand will find you/ I am his daughter." In 1998, the shooter was released from prison. Blumenfeld saw her chance and grabbed it. She traveled to such places as Bosnia, Sicily and Iran, and interviewed both perpetrators and victims of violence to determine the rituals and rites of revenge. She tracked down and spent hours with the shooter's family, telling them only that she was American journalist working on a book. She and the shooter became pen pals. The book's only flaw, and it's minor, is a sense of detachment, though Blumenfeld is an able and expressive writer and is not sparing when it comes to personal revelations. The climax is astonishingly powerful a masterfully rendered scene, crackling with the intensity of which great, life-changing drama is made. (Apr. 4)Forecast: Needless to say, a book about revenge against terrorism could not be better timed, and aided by powerful writing and an excerpt in the New Yorker, this has bestseller potential. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. > > > > "new.morning" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: --- In [email protected], Angela Mailander > <mailander111@> wrote: > > > > Give it up, Edg, Feste37 ain't gonna listen. Note that none of my > posts have been personal attacks against anyone. I've posted what I've > posted because I wanted to get an idea of what the reaction would be, > and I've got what I wanted. He thinks it's an obsession. I've been > posting for less than a month. American attention spans are short, > > kind of a shallow stereotype, doncha think? I am an american. Do I > have a short attention span? Does Curtis? Does Barry? Does Marek? Does > Sal? Does Rick? I am not defending Americans. Just asking if you > don't have some deeper classification categories. > > > so anything that outlasts an American attention span is an obsession. > > OMG! > > > > > > Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com >
