You're now listening to Vices and Vultures, a podcast on cultures. It's been a while since we did this, but we back and we have a couple of topics that we want to hit over the next couple episodes. So one of the first ones that we are going to hit on here, this is a culture podcast. So we want to talk about topics that relate to culture.
And I think this is a great one to start with being that it's very relevant to both BH and I. So we're going to talk about immigrants and just immigrant culture in general because I feel like that is a thing. If people aren't talking about it already, I feel like we can definitely start discussing it and turning it as such immigrant culture. So my experience with immigrant culture is through my parents.
My father is from Haiti and my mom is from Philippines. So already there's just a lot of different influences coming in into my upbringing and then moving around as much as I have in the East Coast. I've seen a lot of culture in general and it just, but for me I trace it all back to immigrant culture because that's just the perspective that I grew up with. And you know, whenever things were put in context or put in context in immigrant culture, I didn't really understand that other cultures until I lived in them.
And then it was just always until you get to a certain point where you realize that you don't have to worry about these things, you're always going to reference what you were experiencing versus what you were taught. And I think that's a lot of where the immigrant culture struggles is because so much of what is happening now, like in modern day context, it's so a lot of it is polarizing to what the immigrant context is, which is based on a lot of traditional values and things like this. So those dynamics of the traditional immigrant family exist. The expectations versus the reality.
And that's what it was like for me. What do you think about that? What do you think about immigrants coming in and seeing things differently as opposed to what they imagine things to be? For example, anybody coming into America, you know what I mean?
Like, they expect something and then they like receive something different. Like, what do you think about that? Yeah. Who like for change has happened over the years and it's kind of different now for the new generation than it was back for our parents.
And one of the reason why that is is because of technology, because everybody gets to see everything. They already know what's going on. Like, it's one thing, it's one thing for our parents moving to a country where they didn't have any idea what was going on there. It's not like there was a Instagram back then, or Facebook where, oh, this is how this works.
This is what's happening. This is how everybody lives their daily life. I was in Cuba when I went to Cuba, the taxi driver was already telling me about, and he's never been to the States, but he was telling me about like his experience and how, you know, he was portraying the life up here in USA in a lot of what he was saying was very accurate. And one of the reason why that is, is like I just mentioned, it's because of technology.
He has a cell phone and we're talking about Cuba. We're talking about one of those countries where internet is really like, he's not very accessible, but this is something you got to pay for. And it's like, you know, it's very regulated and stuff like this. But the fact that he was able to mention those things and the fact that, you know, he was talking about this like that, he's never, it's not like he's been living before.
I felt like that speaks volumes. So that's why nowadays when you look at social media in general, a lot of the convenience on my, well, when I used to have Instagram were immigrants, but those convenience, of course, for instance, the African comedian was entertaining African, but at the same time, they had like an American platform like where a lot of their friends were American. So it's like everybody could relate. And the reason why everybody could relate is because, you know, nowadays, because of technology, everybody does the same thing.
So I feel like for parents, it was different because they had those expectations or they didn't have any expectations. And when they move here, they struggle to, you know, to do certain like, to move through this world where they didn't even know what was going on. They just had an idea compared to somebody who's already seen it through social media or everything else and has an idea of what's going on. I feel like, like, I can't say for me specifically, but I'm talking about the new generation.
So it makes it a whole lot easier because the, because of the internet. So, like, and this is probably something you can experience. Like my parents, they are, they are certain things they can't really never get into. Like, they stay to stay, they chose to stay the way, as conservative as they can be.
And they chose not to adapt to this lifestyle because they just don't want to, you know, they feel comfortable, you know, as well as like this. But for me, it was like, because we exposed to so many, you know, so many cultures, so many other, like group of people, you know, that, you know, I made a choice to be like, okay, like, I got to change. I can't be, I can't stay 100% Haitian, you feel me? Like, there's got to be, there's got to be a little bit, something a little bit different about me to, to pretty much, you know, so I can operate in this world.
That's like very different from where I came from, you know what I'm saying? But for them, it's really difficult because they chose not to, they chose to stay where they are, you know, so that's why they're pretty much in the Haitian, they, they, they, they are pretty much in the Haitian environment. Everybody they can relate to is Haitian and old and stuff like this. So I feel like it's, it's kind of different.
Right. I mean, culture starts in the mind. So whenever you're talking about taking any experiences, both from what you were raised to do versus what you do now, it all starts in your mind and how, how accessible or non-accessible you are as far as other people. When you think about people who stay true to who they are, whether it's because of resolve or it's because, you know, of fear, like unspoken fear, a lot of the time, you don't really hear that being discussed in a lot of these contexts.
It's like like EQ and emotional quotient is something that we don't talk about enough. So I believe that there is fear, complacency, you know, people just want to stay where they are again. Where in difference people just don't like really care to know anything else. Like anything that exists within that room is just, you know, I respect it by the same time.
You know, it's all about being comfortable. Like it's the same thing. It's the same thing with people that's been doing the same job, like for a long period of time. It's just, this is what I know how to do.
I just don't want to do anything else. And it's the same thing when it comes to our churches, you know, like Haitian churches and all Caribbean churches in general, they have the same mentality or they do the same thing like they were doing it back home. They come here and okay, this guy will be done this way. If you were to change it, that would become a problem because that's not what I'm used to.
So it's like, you know, I want to be comfortable doing what I've been doing over the years. I just don't want to change. And you know, for a lot of people, like if it's the group of people that, you know, cherish the same values that do the same things, then that's okay. But when you're talking about like, you know, the younger generations, where they have to come into that where it's like, oh, people, all the people do that differently.
Why we got to still do it this way? Then it becomes a problem because, you know, I'm not trying to like, I'm not trying to deal with the same like same stuff that we've been doing like for years. Like I want to change stuff a little bit. You know, I get, you know, people get bored like very easily now.
So it's like, you know, I've seen a lot of changes that are made over time in general just because it's become necessary. What wasn't necessary or what wasn't seemingly necessary at a certain point in time? I've become very necessary now. You know, technology has helped a lot of that.
We see the way that convenience is operated as far as food, as far as transportation, you know, like some things change out of necessity. And I feel like as far as beliefs are concerned, some things, the way that you look at certain things will change out of necessity. I'm not saying that a lot of people will make a 180 on their beliefs because, you know, for some people they'll stick to something for the rest of their life. But you know, for a lot of people, I feel like if they're willing to open their minds to it, what can happen for a lot of people is, you know, they kind of soften their approach to it as far as how they think about it.
So a good example of this would be like, I didn't like eating onions growing up, right? But now it's like, I used to hate it. Like I used to always separate it from my food. But now I found a lot better about having it because I also understand that it's not bad to have it in there.
And you know, it all works out. So in a different context, you have somebody like, you know, somebody like Jeff who lives a couple miles from here in Long Island, right? So let's do Jeff might not like seeing, you know, Hispanic culture showing up more and more in his grocery store. But and that might be something that he's not used to seeing in general.
But a couple of years later, since Jeff still lives in that same area in that population, you know, say study or might even increase, he's not used to it. So he's just chilling now. He's not necessarily worried about it because he's taken the time to kind of look into it and say, you know what, like, life is changing. And I'm good with that.
Not every situation happens that way. And you know, sometimes when people are faced with different cultures that are brought into their lives suddenly, because they never even asked for that change, let's be real. You know, they say themselves, like, over time, if they take the time to look into it, and they're like, you know what, this isn't as bad, you know, having the EQ to have that self song, I feel like it's very important because in your culture is very, very, very stringent. It's very strict.
It's very rigid. You know, you're not going to get a lot of change out of that. So knowing this and understanding this and having conversation about this, I feel like it's important because, you know, we have to understand how to navigate that because a lot of people don't know how to, and I've talked to a lot of those people, and it's like, they find themselves kind of stuck. And sometimes they don't even know they're stuck as far as just, you know, how to figure it out because it's very delicate to become.
Yeah. But like I said, I think all this is changing. Like it is. I feel like we talking about this now is because it's mainly because of our parents, like, five 10 years from now, I feel like everybody's going to be everybody.
You wouldn't even be able to tell the difference because it's like, you know, it's like I said, with technology, you know, we are exposed to the same thing. So we just, we normally gravitate towards the same thing as the people. And I'm not saying that's a good thing. But it's just what it is now.
I guess just what it is now. Like you mean, before it used to be, there used to be like a clear distinction between like, you know, African American and an African. And for the reason why you can tell, you were able to tell this distinction is because of, once again, there were two distant cultures. They were very distant cultures.
But nowadays is like, like I said, you can't really tell people are laughing about the same stuff. It's the same humor. Like, I see you're saying people are laughing about the same stuff. They do the same things.
You know what I'm saying? Like, let's take for instance, somebody was a Muslim. You know, I have a lot of Muslim friends. And we talk about, we talk about our parents and we look at each other like, we do the same thing.
I'm going to say that the other thing is right. I do the same thing. That a Muslim is talking. Yeah.
But you can think about it. The parents and my parents do not do the same thing. They just do different, like it's too, it's really two different cultures. But if you put in me and that Muslim guy, like there is not really much of a difference.
Because everything that like, our generation is more like, I feel like it is more about money than anything like. So what you're saying about in the club, you know what I'm saying? It's like, while he's not supposed to be. So what you're saying is that because your parents grew up in a different context and different cultures, they do their own different things.
Well, because we're immigrant children or like children that later came on to America, or just parents of or children of immigrant parents, we have those traditional values that are very similar in nature. And we end up doing the same things because of it. You know, like the other, the parents kind of like the different. Exactly.
And that's because of technology. Yes. That's because of technology. Because we're all looking at the same thing.
And we're all looking at the same information using the same platform exactly. Like I don't want to be doing anything else differently than you doing. Like, you know what I'm saying? I want to be doing the same thing.
Because especially if I want to cater to you as a people, like, you know, let's take business for one example. There are a lot of things like in business, you can't really discriminate because you're trying to sell it. Like you're trying to sell everybody your products. And that's how it is now.
This is very, this is becoming important because now we're realizing that these are the people that's going to be around us. Like you want to school this or. You just made your potential clients. Exactly.
So it's not like there's nothing you can do about it. This is what it is now. So we all ask, we all like, you know, but there are always exceptions to the rule. You're still going to find like it's just what it is.
Like you go to a room now and you staying with white, black, yellow, brown or whatever. You talk to everybody and it seems like everybody grew up in the same place. Right. There's nothing that's really, exactly like places.
Right. And once again, this thing be true for us because we're living in New York, but yeah, like that I felt like that also has to be taking into account. But yeah, I mean, I feel like the unique times are ending. Think about it this way.
We have kids who are now native to iPads. Right. When those kids go to college, like in like three decades, they're going to, you know, there's going to be a lot more standardization as far as like how the experiences were because they're going to be hanging out in augmented reality, right? It's time that they're 13.
Exactly. Which is crazy to get that relation is going to be different as well. Yeah, exactly. Everybody's going to be, you know, exactly.
And then the parents of those kids are going to be freaking out because they go to daycare and hanging out with babies from China over there in Illinois, you know, some crazy stuff. Yeah, it's just what it is. So there's just like, you know, like nations, other nations don't get involved. Like, you know, you starting to see a lot of also like right now, like when we're recording this, like Australia has like a lot of fire, fire stuff going on for like a couple months.
And it's so interesting how, even though that's Australia, that's completely different part of the world, there are like a lot of people who I follow on Instagram, like photographers and things like this, like associated with like anybody that was like outdoor hiking kind of companies. Like those people are raising awareness for like stuff that's going on over there, like they're selling prints and raising awareness for that. Whereas like a while ago, like years before not having these platforms made finding that information, not as instantaneous. So you live almost like dependent, especially like a place that has limited access to information and all this other stuff, you're going to be supermaning on things like so it's crazy because like now everybody is focused on being current.
You know what I'm saying? We open our phones to stay current, our fees, we open our inboxes to current messages and emails and like we stay on TV to stay current on the sports. Like everybody's being current and it's like a lot more, it's a lot easier to do so, but you know, life moves a lot slower for people who live before. So it's like, I think contextualizing that for people like our age like in the 20s is very important because I'm explaining something to somebody who's a lot older about tech.
And I almost feel like I'm entitled to this be the ongoing because I'm an expert at it. But like sometimes I have to realize like, oh snap, you know, this is maybe completely foreign to this person because they weren't using it after the scene like I was. So I think remembering that is important because people like to feel a way about that and I get it completely trust me. But I think keeping that context is important just like they need to keep in context that you know, in the next couple months there will be a new iPhone and that's unheard of back then.
But that's just something that, you know, they had to get used to it as well. Like we all have to work on the age of accommodation also. Like we have all this awareness about all these different events and causes and things like this. We talk about the movements and things of that nature.
But what this is doing regardless of how you feel about any of those movements, what this is doing is giving people information. Awareness only does so much, but the fact that you can go on a platform and read awareness about something that you would have had access to back then is pretty impressive and pretty awesome because it allows a lot of other people to share conversations like this one we're talking about. And we can cross your head like we throw it because like you said, some people are not interested in changing at all. And we have to accept that and understand like how to have conversations with those kinds of people because a lot of people could be convincing somebody like still be trying to convince somebody or something that they already don't care about.
And like we have to like, I'm not saying that we have to be responsible for this. What I'm saying is that we have to talk about the fact that you can liberate yourself from that because it's just a crush, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And you know, people talk about culture all the time too.
And you know, it's that, I mean, when you think about it, I was going to say something stupid. So I'm, but yeah, people talk about culture all the time, but from our own opinion, the only people that's stopping the culture from moving forward are old people. Like, yeah, yeah, it's like, it's like, in when I see that, I'm including like all the old heads, like, you know, regardless of your, I mean, you know, I'm going to say it like this, the church that we're affiliated with or like you said, your something, I haven't mentioned it before, like I have mentioned on a different podcast. So I'm SD-A2.
Part of what I've seen at like the world church gathering because I've been to a handful of those is, you know, a misrepresentation of our age bracket. And what I have to say to that is, you know, the reason why it's misrepresented is because all the older people are sitting in the spots where all the young people should be right and what, and they're asking us to be there, but they're literally sitting in the seats, they're wanting us to sit in. And it's like, it's not really interesting because that's better than them. We have our own platform.
You know what I'm saying? And it's just, it's not even that like, it's not even the entitlement to the seat because I feel like that's a foregone conclusion. What it is, it's just to add it to that, that general attitude towards it. And you know, it's a confusing message.
It's just like, okay, you want us involved, but you're sitting where you, where we should be any way to help out in the ways that we know out. It's just like, it's very confusing. And that right there is a representation of just immigrant culture in general. We have a very specific church culture we just mentioned.
And in the general context of immigrant culture, we have something where, you know, the older group of people have just as much of a misunderstanding with certain things that they just need to resolve as do the younger people who, you know, to this day still there's a constant tension like back and forth. But we had to talk about these things where it's just like, look, we have to call this day a space for what it is, whenever we have conversations about things that we care about and stand for, then and now and just like in a case, you can be honest about it because I feel like that's what's lacking. And I feel like the change that's happening and like, you know, somebody could say something like, oh, you know, this is still a fad, it will go away soon. Like it's, it will like crash.
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