Our World

The Diaper Dumper

I stumbled across this article not to long ago, one that had an interesting title and seemed close to home. Apparently somebody has been dumping used adult diapers along a road in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, and they have dumped a load of diapers again. Police have not been able to capture the criminals, but they are hoping a witness can help identify the criminal(s) because the incident is happening in a rural area. The reason I put this in the College Geo blog is because I think this is a good example of culture. We often examine other cultures and point out the things that are different to us or that are similar, but how often do we really examine our own culture and decide what is "acceptable" and not "acceptable". Also, how do those of other cultures perceive events in our culture? Obviously, this diaper dumping example is something that we as a culture would perceive as wrong, but funny. In our culture, we understand and see some humor in a person dumping 15 used adult diapers and running after doing so to not be found. However, somebody of a different culture may not click into this incident the same way we do. Perhaps in their culture this might be part of something they see in their everday life because of the financial status of the people, overcrowding, or the small amount of waste control within the country. Many different factors could play a role in a situation like this. I think it is interesting to see how different cultures perceive different ideas. Here, 15 used adult diapers being continuously dumped in an area in a "dump and run" sounds funny when you think about it, but when you truly stop to consider the different customs, political backgrounds, beliefs, economic situations, pollution, and overcrowding issues that surround other cultures, one would wonder if someone would see the same amount of humor that we do in this kind of situation or others. And, what issues they see as funny in their culture, but we don't see.

Article

posted by Kevin Hurd @ 4/16/2006 10:37:00 PM