Where have the three-dimensional people gone?
Why is everyone and everything one or the other these days?
Why must we choose between the icing on the cake or the cake itself? Why not enjoy both?
Why is it that people find it so 'weird' that you can like Eminem and then Baul all in the same day?
Why is enjoying 'Bollywood movies' looked down upon but not owning the collector's edition of 'There's something about Mary'?
I do think these one-dimensional people are suffering from a lack of strong cultural identity.

In the past 4 days I have had the great 'misfortune' of running into far too many BBID (Bangladesh-Born-Ignorant-Desis) and their 'opinions' and can say that I'm not pleased.
Yes I may come out sounding like a middle-aged FOB (fresh off the boat, aka new immigrant, though technically its running the 9th year....so seasoned immigrant I guess.) but I'm getting really tired of people passing judgments on a culture they have neither the understanding for nor a microdecible desire to learn.
I'm not saying they have to know/like everything bengali but turn up your nose against something 'just because' it IS Bengali is just stupid.
And that's exactly what these people do.
They are born something and want to be something else. And this something is not decided upon either- one year it's 'black', next 'Punjabi' and next year its 'American'.
But first thing they do is dismiss the culture they are born into.
Okay, the whole rebelling against your parent's etc, Yes I get it. But do they really think the apple is going to fall that much further from the tree? Maybe there was strong wind or maybe the parent tree was busy elsewhere - resulting in the apple growing up thinking its an orange...... But I digress.
I understand that you are not living 'in the old country' anymore and there are numerous cultures to pick from in the multicultural West, but why this opinion the 'new culture' is somehow superior to the one they were born into? Is it not a form of racism in itself? Ok maybe that's a little harsh. But it's damn funny listening to them speak I tell you.
Eg. One of them babbles on about all the presidents of the United States of America who were assassinated, chronologically, but not know who Sheikh Mujibor Rahman' (father of the nation) is and then goes on to voice opinions about how the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan spelled 'economic' doom for Bangladesh '.
Then there are ones who think listening to every single Punjabi music group out of UK makes them 'Punjabi' but can't cite the timeline for the 'Green revolution in Punjab' or point out the location of the place Punjab on a world map (hint: it spans two countries).
In other words- they are fickle and un-informed.
In my opinion if you were to truly immerse yourself in one culture and its heritage, it wouldn't give you such a tunnel vision but should only help you see the common threads between all cultures, inciting you to learn more and appreciate them equally- and THAT can only be a good thing.


PS: Yes I'm aware t hat I'm employing the term 'culture' very losely here. I am only referring to the terms(Bengali/French/Sikh etc) people use to announce themselves while making a statement.