Arg…

I’m sorry, but there are some some things about this culture that just suck. I know, but political correctness be damned, some things are just awful here. We were talking about music in my conversation class and I even played some music for them. They liked “Stand by Your Man,” and “It’s not for Me to Understand.” I picked up that hint from a Laotian guy I used to work with. He told me that all of his relatives and most of the Pho places we would go liked listening to country music because the singers’ pronunciation was very distinct and rather slow.

Anyway, we finished up listening to them and it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen any bands around here. there are an endless number of kids chanting and singing in the streets, but no adolescents or older people doing music. There are the guys that do weddings, but that’s about it. I asked why that is. It turns out that it’s only socially acceptable to perform music if you’re from a certain “class” of people. It was made clear to me that it was a lower class and that they were considered undesirable.

I had heard that about drummers, really, who wants their daughter marrying a drummer? In rock bands, it’s always the drummers that are trouble… But to think of all musicians as being “lower” than you makes for a pretty awful environment for creative people. I can also only imagine what kind of weird effects that has on kids’ minds. Pop singers are universally admired, and many kids want to emulate the successful ones. But do they then aspire to a lower class of person?

BTW, when I asked them which English bands they like to listen to Celine Dion was the first off of everyone’s lips. Ugh. Some others were the Backstreet Boys, ABBA, Shania Twain, and Britney Spears. I was about to give up hope on them liking something that I really like when Batool said that she likes Elvis. She even referred to him as “The King.” LOL that made my night….