There are several writers who have basically explored various aspects of American culture. Our discussion on ethnocentrisms’ is one of the interesting discussions since we would be talking of other people`s way of life as we base it solely on values and standards of our own way of living. Basically, different people have different ways of handling situations in life. For instance, what people from a certain culture consider good for them may be bad or unacceptable for another cultural society. Ethnocentrism, the main topic of our discussion, refers to the evaluation of other people`s culture and way of living based on standards of their own culture or their own way of living. Individuals normally judge other groups relative to their own ethnic groups especially based on language, behavior, customs and also aspects like religion.
For instance, Christopher Columbus is a great American writer who has explored several cultural aspects of different societies. In his writing, he describes his encounter with the Indies. He says he used all means so that he could understand their perspective, speech and signs. The Indies believed that he came from heaven because according to their culture, they had not being used to such new personalities in their location. They all ran shouting so that others could come and see how people from heaven look like as Columbus observed. Christopher Columbus believed that he was a more civilized American and hence referred to most other races from the Eastern as natives.
For instance, he says the natives considered Europeans as Gods. This can be clearly witnessed in the events that happened to him when he toured the land of Indies. The impressions by the natives that the whites are Gods was created by the natives when Christopher Columbus in a new world at the era of discoveries. On landing, the natives were shouting that they had seeing God. This is a clear reason they believed the Europeans are Gods. Secondly, Columbus believed these natives were more stupid than he had known of them. For instance, he says, the natives looked more stupendous in his eyes and he actually laughed at their funny behavior. He made jokes out of them; this symbolizes his stand that, the natives were composed of primitive and uncivilized personalities. He loved adventure and studying other people`s culture and hence ended up making new discoveries in what he referred to as the new world.
