What we can learn from the Beverly Hillbillies

Many years ago there was a tv show called "The Beverly Hillbillies." It was about a family from Bugtussle, TN, who suddenly became wealthy and moved to Beverly Hills, CA. These people were not stupid. (Okay, maybe Jethro was.) But here was a family that was thrust into a culture totally different from what they were used to. It caused some problems. They would do things like go out and shoot their dinner, not realizing that this was not acceptable behavior in Beverly Hills.

Several years later there was another tv show, this time it was "3rd Rock From the Sun." It was basically the same premise, except this time it was a group from another planet trying to learn about Earth. Again, they encountered problems as they were not familiar with the culture in which they put themselves.

These things happen in real life. People travel to different places and don't take the time to learn beforehand what is acceptable and what isn't. They end up offending people unintentionally.

Do you know anybody who ever had business dealings in Japan? When a Japanese businessman gives you his business card, don't just put it in your pocket. You could mess up a multi-million dollar deal. Take the card with both hands and study it. Show your approval. Then put it away. That's part of their culture.

Things are quite different in Israel now than they were during my first trip here. In those days, while many places had modern plumbing, many still had the old plumbing. Therefore toilet could accommodate what they were intended to accommodate, but nothing else. There was a covered wastebasket next to the toilet and one was expected to throw their paper products in there as not to clog the pipes.

You can bet if things were that way in Israel, they were no different in the rest of the Middle East. Which brings me to a woman I once knew. Her husband worked in a factory that employed many Arabs. She always spoke about how filthy and disgusting they were because they wouldn't flush their toilet paper. Instead, they threw it in the wastebasket.

This is not a case of people being filthy and disgusting. This is a case of people not realizing that the country they were coming to was different from the one they left. Maybe asking what to do with used toilet paper is not the first question one would ask about a culture, but maybe it shold be.

Now there is a new "place" that many people visit. It's called Cyberspace. There are cultural norms here, too.

First, if you write complete in upper case, that is how you convey that you are yelling at the person. I DON'T LIKE TO BE YELLED AT. If you yell at me, I will not respond. I may not even read what you wrote.

Second, computers are not cell phones. When sending a text message, we are limited. So abbreviations are acceptable. Wen u hav litl space its ok & evn gr8. However, when sending an e-mail, or posting to a blog, or FaceBook, or any other site, it's not. Learn to spell. "What" is not spelled "wat." "Great" is not spelled "gr8." Need I go on? Using such abbreviations when not necessary does not make you look cool. It makes you look stupid.

Welcome to Cyberspace. We're happy to have you. Just remember, this is not a sitcom, and not knowing the culture is not funny.