Healthy respect for other cultures sorely needed now
My love of culture in general should be well known by now. I love my own African heritage mightily, but I also respect others from around the world. One of the places I have always been intrigued with is East Asia.
I wanted to minor in East Asian studies in college my first go around, but I couldn't pull together enough classes to meet the requirements. Some 25 years later, the University of South Carolina has a thriving Center for Asian Studies, and I'm sort of jealous. Progress is progress, I suppose. Instead of pursing it academically, I decided to attend to my interest in Asian history and culture through my hobbies and random history courses that I could take to fill my degree's history requirements. I was extra prepared for my Modernization of China and Japan class my sophomore year because I'd done a lot of outside reading. I knew more about geisha and Sumo than probably the average American. I got heavily into K-pop through BoA and started watching a ton of anime, the original Iron Chef and K-dramas because I found them fascinating and fun.
The point is, I love learning something new, and I love learning something outside of myself. I respect others because it's the right thing to do, and because how else would I learn? There is such a large world outside of what I know, and in a time of dumbing down and watering down culture in the United States, I do what I can to celebrate others and remain learned.
Lyndsey Beatty is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be reached by email at lyndseyb@gaminginsurrection.com
I wanted to minor in East Asian studies in college my first go around, but I couldn't pull together enough classes to meet the requirements. Some 25 years later, the University of South Carolina has a thriving Center for Asian Studies, and I'm sort of jealous. Progress is progress, I suppose. Instead of pursing it academically, I decided to attend to my interest in Asian history and culture through my hobbies and random history courses that I could take to fill my degree's history requirements. I was extra prepared for my Modernization of China and Japan class my sophomore year because I'd done a lot of outside reading. I knew more about geisha and Sumo than probably the average American. I got heavily into K-pop through BoA and started watching a ton of anime, the original Iron Chef and K-dramas because I found them fascinating and fun.
The point is, I love learning something new, and I love learning something outside of myself. I respect others because it's the right thing to do, and because how else would I learn? There is such a large world outside of what I know, and in a time of dumbing down and watering down culture in the United States, I do what I can to celebrate others and remain learned.
Lyndsey Beatty is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be reached by email at lyndseyb@gaminginsurrection.com
Lyndsey Beatty
Cry of War
Cry of War