You go abroad, and you are say highly educated about the different culture ure visiting, and you bring your dumbass mate who know shit about it, and the locals seem to like him more…
Why is that?
‘Cause he ain’t tryin’ as hard.
When you and your dumbass mate go around in your home country, do they like him more there as well?
It’s like this, see…
They’re going to cook your friend. They don’t want him getting wind of their plot, so they’re being nice. Now, you, on the other hand, respect and appreciate their culture, so they’d never dream of eating you… but being nice to you and mean to him is quite likely going to ruin dinner.
This sounds like a variation on “Why do women like the assholes?”
Its not really like that, ok I take back ‘dumbass mate’ and insert someone whose generally not known anything about the culture except for stereotypical views from say e.g Tv.
Does the mate talk softly, wink a lot and make kissy faces for no reason? And dress for speed?
its not my mate!!! Sorry for the confusion but I meant hypothetically
Because the “dumbass mate” is happy to acknowledge the limits of their knowledge, while the “educated” one isn’t as educated as they like to think (and this is painfully obvious to the locals)? I suspect I’ve been in that latter camp before now.
could you elaborate?
Sure. I think people often react better to a self-confessed idiot than a well-meaning smartarse. It’s surprisingly easy to irritate people even if you don’t intend to. Some people, myself included, take a little knowledge and pretend it’s more than it actually is - trying too hard, really.
I agree with crusoe.
They relate better to the ‘mate’, cause he/she is probably just standing around gawking with nothing but his own curiosity driving his actions.
Whereas you are trying (hard) to be culturally sensitive. In most third world countries that would be an area that the average person could not in anyway relate to. It’s outside of their experience.
While staring wide eyed, and gawking at whatever strikes you, everyone knows that experience.