Submissive Cultures Acceptance Phenomena

Submissive Cultures Acceptance Phenomena

I awoke this morning at approximately 5:30 am because of an extremely noisy loudspeaker system here in Mampong, Ghana. I have been observing these phenomena now for many years, and after years of complaining and trying to understand, I finally realized. I am the only one complaining, and that is the interesting phenomena to be observed.

Why am I the only one complaining?
Why does a culture agree to be submissive?
Why does a culture agree to this perpetually?

There is an obvious advantage when one person dominates another for selfish reasons. It is not clear why a large group accepts and agrees to remain submissive. I believe there is a consensus among the submissive group that empowers the dominating group. There is a consensus saying that the noise is not good, but there is an overriding consensus that says they do not have the right to stop the noise. This is a free will offering of control and leadership to one member in a group with no explainable reason, even though there is no benefit to the group.

This type of submissiveness allows bullies to exists and dominate cultures.



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Listen to today’s questions and answers talk show with Andy Graham
Joel from Oregon asked two questions: 1st: Would you or have you visited un-contacted tribes? 2nd: What are the results of your December 26, 2010 straw poll, where you asked people the question, are you happy?
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The Frustration of Searching for Open Restaurants
African Cultural Studies --- By living with an African girl here in Ghana, I am immersed deeper than ever before into the African culture. I am observing nuances, and small subtle behavioral characteristics never experienced before in other trips to Africa.

You know you are culturally immersed when there is a never-ending queue of new and uncomfortable experiences. Bah is frustrated and uncomfortable, she is an Ivory Coast girl living in Ghana, although the cultures are similar, they is enough variance to make her feel uncomfortable.

Seeing problems in another culture, we avoid in our own.
I enjoy being with Bah while searching for street venders to buy food, she is becoming increasing frustrated. Ivory Coast is about five levels more modern than Ghana; however not enough to say there is a dramatic difference. She does not see the same problems in her own culture, but here in Ghana she is quick to point them out, I just say.
"T.I.A. This Is Africa."

We know of these street food stands:

1. Two places that cook fried rice with a piece of chicken.
2. Three places that cook fried eggs.

These are two foods she will eat with me, that are not typically African, she normally wants
Dorkounoum, Attieke, Placali, or Alloco however, best to leave for another time, that is just another area of frustration.

She wants to be a good African woman, she wants me feed me, she wants me to eat a two-egg sandwich with cut up pepper inside, served on a toast bun. She went to the market and purchased small Africa peppers, and in Kumasi the other day, we purchased a bottle of powdered black pepper. She was prepared, ready to make me happy, she put the red peppers into a bag, then grabs the bottle of powered pepper and we go walking to a street vender that cooks eggs.

We walk to the restaurant stand, and the first one is closed, we walk to another and it has no eggs, we switch to fried rice and it is closed. She finally says,
"Do you want a boiled egg?"

There are at least 30 people selling boiled eggs, no one person is dependable, but it would be hard to not find one of the people walking around with boiled eggs.

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Ghana, West Africa --- Tuesday, April 5, 2011
by Andy Graham of HoboTraveler.com
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When nothing is dependable, you do not plan.
I accept the underdeveloped world, I will complain a little, but I no longer get angry with owners of restaurants or street venders. There is nothing dependable about a street vender in Mexico, Thailand or Ghana. A traveler cannot expect a Restaurant, Internet Café, store, or and business establishment to open when it says, or even to open, it is emotional sabotage to expect dependability from these countries.

If you want dependable go to:

1. Wal-Mart
2. McDonalds
3. Pizza Hut

I love franchises and chain restaurants; they are a no-brainer love affair.

The best situations overseas are when you can eat at the Mom and Pops places, then when they are too stupid, walk into a Franchise and eat.

Solutions
Bah is becoming increasingly frustrated, I on the other hand am becoming increasingly comfortable. The longer I am in one location, the more small places I know to eat, the more options that become available. I leave the room as a scavenger, maybe we first walk to our favorite fried rice place, but if closed, my normal plan it to walk around until I find something acceptable.

Bah has started cooking in the room, it takes longer, it does not save much money, but this is more dependable than eating out. To be sure, there is always a way to cook in Ghana, we have both an electric hot plate, and an alcohol cooker. It makes Bah happier to know that she is accomplishing something, than the idea of eating at a restaurant that may or may not be open as agreed.

It is USA inside the Hotel Room
It has been a struggle; however, Bah now understands me and is now making jokes. She says to me,
"You are half German."

This means, I am strict, inflexible, and demanding, I am very dependable, like a Mercedes Benz car.

People hate rules, unless the rules makes lives simpler and easy, then they cling to them. I have lived in Hotel room for 13 years, I have a few self-imposed rules, and when someone else enter the room, I say,
"This is the USA."

Sort of like an Embassy on foreign soil, we hope and should expect to enter our own culture, well, when I return to the Hotel room, I am in the USA. These rules are slowly making Bah feel comfortable, she is an Ivory Coast girl inside Ghana, and she is not at home.

This is always the fun part of about people who are immersed, they instantly try to remove, change and alter everything and make it like home, and stop the immersion.

The longer you stay in one location, the more you adapt, I like Ivory Coast and Togo better than Ghana, but I enjoy living in Guatemala more than here, but would rather eat the food of Thailand. People want to latch onto something they believe in, while in reality the only place that is dependable is my own little Hotel room, which for me is the USA, inside Ghana.





Michael Jackson Skin
I am immersed in Africa culture, and one of my great cultural moments happened yesterday. I was walking down the road with Bah, she point over at a very white black girl, and she says,
"Michael Jackson Skin."

It was an off the wall comment, she did not edit it or think it through, she just said it, but this comment explains the African culture from the inside. Bah is an extremely black person, her skin color is black as coal; she does not use skin cream to lighten the color. In the past, she had a boyfriend that told her,
"Use cream and eat more."

This is a black boy saying to her,
"Stop being skinny and become white."



Boy Genius in India found this headset, he will soon send me four from India, because the do not sell this type in West Africa.

It appears I need to carry 4-5 backup Skype.com headsets, which would last me a year of traveling the planet. I tried to purchase 10 of these headsets today on E-bay.com, and instantly Paypal.com has limited my account because I am in Ghana.
http://stores.ebay.com/worldtechon

Paypal.com Shuts me off in Ghana
Paypal.com is normally a headache when I use, today was just another example. I do not use Paypal.com unless I know I have a way to call the USA and un-screw the system. Paypal.com shut me off in Kenya last year, it takes about an hour to re-activate the account.

If I am able to reactivate the account, I believe I will be able to use it inside Ghana, and the problem will happen again with the next country. I do not use Paypal.com unless I truly need too; it is just a headache in action.



Waterfalls in Mampong, Ghana

Submissive Cultures Acceptance Phenomena