How do you define privacy?
After having met and conversed with various people of various European nationalities, I have been surprised by the level of openness they hold regarding religion, culture and politics. While often taboo, the bar setting has allowed a better access to the ideas held by locals. In my personal experience, people are very receptive to those who take a legitimate interest in their culture and experiences. While this must be balanced with a level of cultural sensitivity, I have found that people in Europe are far more open to discussing their views with outsiders. From discussing the past issues of Yugoslavia to addressing the current issues of political corruption within Hungary, people have been shockingly open to discussing deeply controversial and divisive topics. While I may be crossing some lines of decorum by asking about these topics, I have been consistently reassured that I am welcomed and encouraged in pursuing the line of questioning. On the other hand, it has been made abundantly clear to me that financial matters are not to be discussed publicly. While I have been fortunate enough to not learn this firsthand, people on the scavenger hunt made it abundantly clear that such matters are not meant to be dealt with publicly. This has been of great interest to me, as I have always found matters of politics and religion to be far more personal than my financial information. Do you think North American societies should be more like Europe on their openness to discussion, or does reservation help to promote cohesion and coexistence among people and states?
-Chris and Erika
Thank you, Chris and Erika, for your blog post about the openness of conversation topics here in Europe. We personally agree that North American societies should be more open to the topics of discussion. From our experiences so far, we too have also found that politics and religion aren’t taboo topics amongst the locals, but finances are definitely considered off limits. During the scavenger hunt in Vienna we talked to a waiter at the rooftop bar and he was more than willing to talk politics and religion with us but when we brought up the topic of finances, he acted very surprised that we would bring that up and wasn’t willing to mention it at all. We can see the similarities between Canada and Europe in that sense, as Canadians don’t often talk about finances, especially when it’s not with close friends or family. From our experiences, we see no issue with being more open about some topics that are too often considered taboo. The laid-back culture here when it comes to these topics proves that us Canadians shouldn’t be so hesitant about our conversation topics. As for your question about reservation allowing for cohesion amongst people and states, we think that there could be an argument made for that case but after our experiences here, reservation isn’t the best way to create cohesion. We have experienced first-hand that being open when it comes to conversations creates a better relationship amongst friends. Thank you again Erika and Chris for your blog post and thought-provoking question!
ReplyDelete-Trevor and Katelyn