10/16/2021; Week 5: Response to Bro. Iver's "Culture Miscommunication"

     Cultural miscommunication can result as a lack of understanding of cultural paradigms. One constant source of misunderstanding is between monochronic and polychronic cultures, which was addressed HERE. Another source of misunderstanding can occur when intent is misread. 

     As Brother Ivers discussed in his lecture entitled "Cultural Miscommunication", he talked about the Latin culture of politeness and an intense desire to not offend. In many cases, this concept is of paramount importance, even more important than honesty. This makes sense because Latin cultures value relationships over all things, and sometimes, according to their paradigm, it is important to lie or twist the truth in order to avoid offending someone. 

     My brother-in-law and I dealt with this confusing situation recently. He needed to have a television repaired, so he dropped it off and was told by the owner that he should have it fixed by the next day, and that he would call when it was ready. He did not call, however, not for days. We finally called and he said he was working on it, but that he had ordered a part and he was waiting for it to come in. Then he would be able to fix it. This game of cat and mouse went on for months, him saying that the part was coming, us asking him if he could just tell us if he could fix it or not. He could never bring himself, even after four months, to tell us that he wouldn't be able to fix it. In his paradigm, it was better that he didn't offend us by being the bearer of bad news, than to tell us the truth, which was that he wouldn't be able to fix it. We eventually just went and picked it up in the same condition in which we left it. 

     While encounters like this can be annoying to people with cultures like ours who often don't care if we offend others, or hurt their feelings, we need to remember that with this lack of honest communication comes compassion, care, and consideration that is difficult to find in United States culture. 

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