Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences 
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Since Catholics (among others) believe that existence continues beyond death, they venerate saints and ask for their intercession with God. It isn’t that they don’t believe they are allowed to speak to God directly, they are hoping that the saint’s status will incline God favorably toward their request. Also, the saints (being human) seem more sympathetic and approachable. It’s rather like asking a politically-connected uncle to help you get a job, I suppose. At the same time, Catholics believe that certain saints take a particular interest in particular aspects of life on earth: hence you have the patron saint of this, that or the other. No doubt a lot of this is an echo of the polytheism that Christianity supplanted in the early years.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I think something over 50% of the people in the USA were corrective eyewear, so I would guess that this is one part stereotype, one part fashion. It may well be that Asians are less likely to wear contact lenses for some reason.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Americans have, as a people, a very strong desire to help others. This is not unique, but at this time their power to act is. Unfortunately, when people want to help others they usually try to reshape them in their own image (as parents do children, the religious do non-believers, etc.). As a result, ‘cultural imperialism’ goes hand-in-hand with any kind of engagement with others and it isn’t always appreciated. The only alternative (and it’s quite a strong force in American politics from time to time) is isolationism. You see that in various countries where the power structure tries to limit ‘corrupting external influences.’
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I wouldn’t read much into this. A lot of people are just used to what they’re used to, and find anything new somewhat uncomfortable. Your white friends probably see mostly art that is in the Western European mainstream (or velvet clowns, for that matter), and aren’t used to Afrocentric material. Other people enjoy novelty. I have a Norman Rockwell, a Mexican mask, and an Indonesian shadow puppet all in the same room, and haven’t gotten many comments about any of it. On the other hand, I am always slightly shocked when somebody puts ketchup on a hot dog – to me, the colors clash and I can’t even imagine the flavor.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I don’t speak Spanish but have some knowledge of the situation. Spanish differs not only between Spain and Latin America but somewhat within Spain and definitely from place to place in Latin America. I used to get school notices translated into Spanish by one or another of the bilingual teachers, and it was quite clear there were differences depending on where they were from. One woman from Peru made it clear that (in her opinion) her Spanish was so superior that she didn’t think Puerto Ricans would understand it.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I grew up in a family where everyone (at least all of the adults) wore glasses, yet I have to confess that a woman tends to look more attractive to me without glasses – IF she has a pretty face to begin with. It isn’t a big difference, but I think it has to do with the fact that glasses obscure the eyes and interrupt the contours of the face and hair. Despite this, when my wife started to wear glasses, my first impression was not that she looked less attractive, but that she now looked ‘normal’ to me.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,According to Jewish sources, Adam and Eve had many children, not just Cain and Abel. And to answer the obvious next question, the sons married the daughters. Not that Judaism approves of that, but the Biblical creation story raises a number of riddles for which the general answer is, ‘The rules were different then.’
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I can only say that I’ve never noticed this. Have you actually kept a tally, or are you going on your general impression?
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I don’t know the specific answer to your question, but burial customs vary widely. Jews don’t embalm their dead, don’t use an open coffin and hold funerals within a day if at all possible. The Irish are famous, rightly or wrongly, for extended wakes. So far as I know, modern embalming techniques pretty much preserve the body (color and all, with makeup) for many days. The timing of the viewing and funeral is generally at the family’s convenience.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,For one thing, most women have longer hair than men and spend more time washing and otherwise fussing with it. Also, women who shave their legs and underarms are likely to do it in the shower. As for me, I’d take long bubble baths if I had my druthers; my wife prefers quick showers.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I think there are several reasons for what you’ve observed. First of all, the large number of white men that the armed forces stationed in Asia between WWII and Viet Nam led to a number of mixed-race marriages. That also broke the ice in a way, so that white men marrying Asian women was more accepted. Second, while the US had its own supply of blacks, with 200 years worth of attitudes and prejudices, Asians were more of a novelty and in many cases the first Asian in a small town would be a war bride. Third, many people just naturally find people who look somewhat like them (or their relatives) attractive. All of those jokes about men marrying women who look like their mothers notwithstanding, I suspect that most people are less likely to be attracted to someone whose coloring is radically different from anything they are used to.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,One theory I’ve heard is that the castes roughly correspond to waves of immigration or occupation, with the later arrivals oppressing the earlier ones. I’ve no idea if that’s true, and if it were you’d think that the military-political caste would be the highest, rather than the Brahmins. (Despite the sanctions against intermarriage, there has always been some ‘leakage’ or you’d never have blond Jews, Swedes with French last names, and other such oddities.) I think there used to be sub-castes, by the way.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,First, a lot of the money in the special education budget does go to children of normal or even above-average abilities who happen to have physical, behavioral or emotional disabilities. Two of my children received services, although they are of normal intelligence. This clearly differs from school system to school system, and we were lucky. That being said, there is some merit to your question. Our oldest son (who is physically disabled, by the way) is a special education teacher, and in his first teaching job his major work was to change diapers, wipe drool and touch the students with interesting textures. One might well ask what, aside from eliciting the occasional gurgle from one of his charges, was the point. I suppose it comes down to compassion, which by definition doesn’t have well-defined boundaries.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Erin, the way you frame your question is somewhat ambiguous. If you are asking how an atheist can bear the thought of there not being a God, that’s one question. If you are asking how an atheist can conclude that there is no God, that’s another. Those are questions that each person would have to answer for himself, if he can. You are presuming that something you have (faith) is so essential to everyone that those who do not have it feel its absence. That’s a little like a bird asking a squirrel how it can bear not to fly. On the other hand if you are asking how anyone, atheist or not, can believe in evolution that’s yet a different question which I’ll try to answer. Evolution, whether of the human being or of the universe as a whole, is not incompatible with the belief in God; it is only incompatible with your beliefs, presumably your literal interpretation of the Bible. There are other interpretations of the Bible, and other beliefs which don’t include the Bible. There are plenty of people who believe in both a Divine Creator and evolution, and to presume that those two are incompatible is to deny God the privilege and power of creating the universe any way He chose.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,An Orthodox Jew will never leave his head uncovered; it’s a sign of respect for God, in whose presence we are at all times. It is similar to the way Muslims keep their heads covered. A regular hat will do; the little beanies you see these days are something of a modern innovation, for indoor wear. They will stay on a bald head, although not very well. Observant Jewish married women cover their heads, too, but that’s a matter of modesty.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,
