funny people.

Oh, hey. Happy 2010 : ) Tons to tell, but that’ll come later.

So, yes, I do play Facebook games. I’m deeply involved in Restaurant City, for God only knows what reason. In order to play the game to the best of my ability, I often friend people temporarily and then delete them. Sometimes they decide to IM me on Facebook chat for those couple hours that they’re my friends, and most of the time they either speak horrendous English or are trying to hit on me.

But yesterday I stumbled upon someone who gave me a little view of how people view us Westerners. He’s from Indonesia, a school teacher in his 30s. We were talking and I told him I was from Philly. This is what he said:

i don't know why, if i hear philadelphia, i just think many big building like in italia with many Negro, and they 'r doin' many violence, like at a film.

Ah, like at a film. Thanks, movies.

And while it’s true that, yes, there may be a higher population of African Americans in Philadelphia and there are certainly some parts of the city that are heavily laden with crime, I find it disturbing that this is the first thing that comes to mind when this man thinks of the city where America begin, the site of many an important historical spot.

We spoke for a bit more, and then he asked me this gem:

But there's a question, is there the women there like to grab their friends breast? because every women of america at facebook show that photo at their profile.

HA. Oh, my. Our drunken Facebook photos really DO reach millions, don’t they? WE LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF ASSHOLES.

I explained to him that that’s commonly a joke among friends (leaving out the part that it’s almost always booze-fueled) and he said this:

hahhaa, that's just a joke? if u try that thing here maybe you will get a hot slap from the women here, lol hahahah

He explained to me that it’s disrespectful there. From that point on we spoke of traditions. He said that they have a lot of them and it makes him feel as though they are all “reigned in” because they cannot do so many things. He said that we are very free here and he thinks freedom is good, but he also thinks that rules and traditions are important to have.

Sir, I could not agree more. While I value the freedom we have in this country, I sometimes wonder if we take certain things too far. Years and years ago, manners were better and different things were valued. Sometimes I wish the vast majority would be more respectful of one another and wouldn’t take things for granted so much.

My Indonesian friend summed us all up quite nicely:

hahaha, west is funny.