the consumption of culture

[contains heavy economic illustrations. may not make sense. requirements: introductory microeconomics and introductory macroeconomics. jokes jokes!]

*newsflash* today i blurted out in the clubs' office "i don't like china." freudian slip? maybe. maybe not. it was so reminiscent of my 2004 outburst in the middle of BJ. although it wasn't as harsh as it was then. i think my exact words two years ago were "I HATE THIS PLACE", and even then it was more of a scream than an emphatic statement.

so it got me thinking about what exactly defines me as "chinese" because would a self-respecting, culturally "pure" chinese person ever admit that he/she doesn't like the motherland? it's almost heretical. some would critize the country or admit they don't like an aspect of it. some wouldn't. both would do so out of love for China, the former in hopes it can improve, but no one would say that they didn't like the country though.

me? i don't have that kind of hardcore love/patriotism. when push comes to shove, it's "GO CANADA" because my selfish interests are vested in the welfare of Canada. some would call that being "whitewashed". i sometimes even call myself that. but i propose a different paradigm in which i am only a consumer and the products that i consume are cultural goods. by cultural goods i mean: pop culture, cultural norms and etiquette, holidays, customs, language, etc...

i would argue that being brought up in two different cultures as opposed to the one culture that most children are reared in, has given me immediate access to both the chinese "cultural market" and the canadian "cultural market". whereas for children who are reared in one culture, they need to earn their access to another "cultural" market by learning and becoming accustomed to a new culture. hello culture shock. but for me the two cultures are "innate".

so since i have easy access to two markets i can substitute goods that i like in the canadian market for goods that i don't like in the chinese market and vice versa. for example my mom and i both don't like the chinese style of parenting. SWITCH. another example, i don't like milk so i swap it for soy milk. for holidays i celebrate all the major canadian holidays and some major chinese ones. english is the easier language so i consume that "cultural good". and so on and so forth.

bottomline? i tweak both cultures to my own benefit. i take what i like and reject what i don't. (i.e. horking. it's disgusting) i am neither culturally pure chinese or culturally pure canadian. i'm chinese canadian; a fusion inside. i think i've finally come to terms with that. i guess that's why i get riled when people are "racist" not because i consider myself chinese, but i consider myself the same as them, canadian, yet they try to set me apart on the basis of my skin, hair, and eye colour. that's also why i get riled in chines when people say "you look chinese...but you're from canada?" would it be easier if i looked fused on the outside as well?

i think maybe...one day i will write a book. but remember folks you heard it here first. ;) jokes. nothing's new under the sun.