[FreedaBee]

My question is: Do people from other cultures and generations have the same emotions as those in my culture? What I mean is that I have a hard time understanding (believing) that people in other cultures (primarily less-advanced cultures) and in past generations share the same emotions that we do. For instance, does a woman in the Kombai tribe deep in the jungles of Papua, New Guinea fall madly in love with Kombai man, act romantic and giddy and plan her dream wedding? Likewise, when a Kombai’s parent/spouse/child dies, do they experience the same level of grief and loss that I would? I feel the same way about Americans who lived in pre-modern times. It seems like people got married and had lots of kids to help on the farm, not because they fell in love and wanted to start a family. Girls only 13 or 14 years old were married off to middle-aged men – where was the love? They all look so miserable in pictures; I don’t recognize anything that looks like love or happiness on their faces. Maybe it’s because of advances in health and medicine that makes death is less common here – so I see it as more shocking and painful. While in places and times where people die from an infected scratch or a cold, is it less painful becasue it’s more expected? There are even modern cultures that are far more advanced than tribes in New Guinea where I don’t think they feel love and loss like I do. I mean, if your culture has arranged marriages or if people are willing to strap explosives on their back and climb on a crowded bus, how can love and loss mean the same thing? Am I total culturalist? An elitist? An ugly American? Is it because I’m American that I’m so out of touch with the rest of the world an therefore see other cultures almost as less human? I feel like people would perceive me as the worst kind of ignorant, pseudo-superior bigot in the world if I brought this up in conversation, so I look forward to hearing from others. Thank you.

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Name : FreedaBee, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 43, City : Orange County, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Finance, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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