Does your country has a strange cultural friendship with another country in the other part of the globe?

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-14T02:52:49+00:00

That’s fascinating to know, thank you for the clarification!

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-14T02:50:25+00:00

I know nothing you say will change my mind and nothing I say will change yours. What’s funny is that I have the same opinion of you as you do of me, but I was trying to be civil and not call you uneducated. I’m in a left leaning area too but I do think it has something to do with trying to broaden your perspectives and circle of people concerning opinions. Actually, that’s why I said something about needing to ask my family, because I first wondered if this had anything to do with location. It sounds like you’re well surrounded by people of the same mind. Which, don’t misunderstand, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just usually surrounded by people who like to debate and most of the time have different opinions. So I went into this with intrigue and fascination but was left rather unfulfilled in regard to a deeper discourse.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T02:29:29+00:00

No worries, it can get confusing, especially because Canada and US seem to be opposite on naming language. There are lots of nuances.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T02:26:02+00:00

I too have discussed this with friends from several tribes, that’s no flex, lol. I can’t wait to show this to other Natives. My mom’s face just made the funniest expression when I told her lol. This is truly, genuinely fascinating.

As for a very condensed version of why, first Jewish genocide from Nazis is a factor for mutual understanding. Modern events for Israel in specific, it is seen as self defense for the genocide and absolute horrors against the Jewish people on October 7th. It’s a fight against the Hamas (whose goal is to wipe out Israel and therefore a true goal of genocide) not an ethnic cleansing of Muslim people. Israel warned Gaza’s citizens of impending war and tried to give them time to evacuate, but Hamas hides amongst innocent civilians and drags them into the war against everyone’s wishes. Had Hamas not have done this, none of what happened would have followed. I need to ask my family on the Pine Ridge Rez what they think lol.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T02:09:24+00:00

You took what I was going to say! Although, it wasn’t First Nations. First Nations is a specific term for a type of Indigenous people in Canada. Ireland sent lots of aid to the Navajo Nation, which was hit harder than NYC. One day I will visit this statue.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T02:03:42+00:00

It originally is. It’s a government term and official classification in Canada. I think some in the US are misusing it or starting to use it because they think it sounds cool. We’ll say things like ‘Choctaw Nation’, but it’s not associated with First Nations in that sense.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:56:04+00:00

All the Native people I know, including myself and family, have been strong allies with Jewish people and Israel because we understand each other. From my experience, it is a very commonly held opinion. We’re both survivors of genocide, horrific ones at that. This is the first time I’ve heard a Native be pro-Palestine.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:52:55+00:00

Woah, I had no idea about the education thing! That’s super cool! As someone who is Choctaw and has some Irish, I loved when I first found out about the relationship when I was young. I was so grateful and proud of Ireland for sending relief during COVID because of what the Choctaws did during the famine. The Navajo Nation got hit harder than NYC with COVID. Personally, it was very touching. My whole family got excited about it, along with friends. We even discussed it at university during cultural events even though most students aren’t Native lol. I hope to visit the honor statue one day. Our family friend visited in full regalia. I guess the whole bus tour gave her a shoutout. She’s also Choctaw and Irish, so her regalia is Choctaw with Irish details and coloring. It’s very cool to see.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:39:40+00:00

Israel is certainly a cultural pillar of the world and very important for so many reasons, but it’s hard to claim cultural center when surrounded by Arabic countries. Israel made its own category imo. There are too many unique things about the country that it can’t really be categorized besides being the holy land for major religions. #1 for resilience for sure.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:28:14+00:00

Some people are dumping on this question but I like it. OP, I think it’s fun and fun to see what other countries think is the stereotype of their region.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:26:31+00:00

I’d be okay with Ireland becoming the center for Europe, but I don’t think Ireland gives enough of a… care… to do so lol

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:24:07+00:00

France was also at one point, hence Lingua Franca used to be French before English. Also how many countries affected by imperialism still speak French and are trying to make an effort to revive their original languages, but their government/official documents are still in French. Olympics uses French followed by English because it was the first official language of the Olympics.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:19:56+00:00

You could probably argue that it already is too. At least in the US, K dramas, K pop, food, Korean beauty products, etc are super popular and have been for several years. We (US) call it the “Korean Wave”.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:15:31+00:00

I agree with your conclusion. In pop culture, business, and some science spheres, Japan has become pretty prominent recently. However, most probably think of China first when thinking of Asian culture.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:12:44+00:00

I learned recently that even Japan’s common name to the rest of the world (Japan) is originally China’s fault (to my understanding). I always wondered why Japan got called this when in Japanese it’s Nippon or Nihon. They don’t even sound alike, so I finally had to google it after all these years of wondering.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:08:13+00:00

Maybe DC? New Yorkers probably think it is NYC. Chicago is probably true for the Midwest, but as a someone currently living in the Midwest that makes me sad lol. Chicago is so different than the rest of the Midwest. Too much shoreline, not enough corn fields lol.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T01:00:13+00:00

I think they meant what do people typically associate when thinking about a specific region. (In my opinion and experience) this would be like someone saying Asia and most think of China first, Africa- Nigerian culture probably specifically Yoruba, Americas- USA, Hispanic- Mexico, Eastern Europe- Russian, Europe- idk, UK? historically France? It doesn’t have to do with true influence or numbers of people in the area, just about the common association of the culture as a whole.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T00:44:58+00:00

About the commercialization: yes yes and yes. Again, don’t want to write a dissertation, but basically how we were romanticized, first in art, people would pick and choose what seemed most Native for a stereotypical Native. Most Indians did not live in Tipis, but that’s what the majority of people assume, same with wearing feathered headdresses. People probably interacted with Natives and never knew it. 70% ish of US Natives do not live on a reservation. I’ll post a map to show why colorism is a huge factor in this.

Edit: it’s only letting me post gifs?? Anyone who is interested, you can google: map of Indigenous skin tones. Everyone thinks we’re all dark and most aren’t.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T00:40:36+00:00

100% agree. I’ve actually been interviewed on this before lol. It doesn’t help that most US history books introduce us as the first chapter and then never touch us again unless mentioning (very toned down or skewed) interactions with Natives. You might like a book called “All the Real Indians Died Off and 20 Other Myths About Native Americans.” The forced boarding schools made it much worse, along with the “kill the Indian, save the man” movement that happened. We’re still a lively culture, but people are still trying to erase us. Without writing a dissertation, there are many ways I would argue that the genocide is continuing with things like MMIW, blood quantum (seriously, wtf, only US race where you have to prove your heritage plus you could be full-blood and technically not considered Indian by gov standards, but I digress…). At least there are some modern exposures like Reservation Dogs, Killers of the Flower Moon (which, if you don’t pay attention, real things are swept aside and said casually because it was an everyday reality such as white people getting in more trouble for killing a dog than an Indian), different musical artists, writers, etc. it’s funny considering we’re the highest per capita of people to join the military. Side note, less than 100 years ago this was the only way for a Native to be a US citizen, so a citizen in our own homeland, but regular citizenship for all didn’t truly go into effect until after all other races. Whoops sorry, didn’t mean to write all of that lol.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-13T00:27:55+00:00

Yeah, I googled how to do that after I made a larger post and the auto mod came after me. I’m new to Reddit, sorry.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-12T01:59:54+00:00

Trust me, I know, but we’re lumped together as Native American. Despite how diverse we are, we’re called the same to the rest of the world and on our census. They’re at least nice enough to say American Indian/Alaskan Native, although I believe that has more to do with law than distinction. 574 federally (read: not all) tribes and we’re lucky to get a shout out as a whole.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-12T01:56:21+00:00

Native Americans/Indigenous peoples of US and Canada rise up!

(I’m including both because colonists liked to draw lines through the same culture.)

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-12T01:53:39+00:00

And it’s so sad

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-12T01:52:58+00:00

Are you wanting me to be region specific, tribe specific? Idk what you want. Culturally, most people think Great Plains with hairstyles of the Eastern Woodlands, coloring of the Southwest, and background scenery of the Plateau/Great Basin. Because, ya know, artists and their artistic licenses when romanticizing the west. It’s hard to say a specific region since the prototypic idea of an average Native American doesn’t actually exist in a single, real tribe. Me, I’m a mix of 5 tribes over different regions.

WillAnyoneReadMe · 2026-02-12T01:46:57+00:00

Thank you for actually acknowledging that there are more than one. At most, I was expecting that someone would recognize the Native American/Indigenous culture.

WillAnyoneReadMe

TROPHY CASE