India V Pakistan

[Madner Kami]

As an American I don't identify with cowboy culture much, as distinctly American as that is.

You don't have to identify with every detail of your cultural heritage to still derive from that culture and be influenced by it. Besides, you yourself just mentioned how "distinctly American" cowboy-culture is. What now? Stop changing goal-posts...

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

You were the one bringing up Mexico, presumably, given how you presented the question, as the perfect example of no shared heritage and polar opposites, which couldn't be further from the truth.

Having no shared history isn't really an underlying point of the comparison, rather than you leading with a shared border insinuating that two countries have such consistent cultural displays.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

And further, no. I'm more recently apprised of the commonality of cowboy culture between Mexico and the US, even now learning more of respective fusion of cultures. But in this geographical case I would expect that apparent consistency among farmers and ranchers much more than with the border guards, just stemming from the fact that they have a common border.

[Madner Kami]

Having no shared history isn't really an underlying point of the comparison, rather than you leading with a shared border insinuating that two countries have such consistent cultural displays.

And that's why I picked cowboy-culture, both because it's a rather ingrained part of US-culture and because it's a shared heritage with Mexico and the entirety of Latin America even. Heck, the word Rodeo is spanish for "Round Up". The way cowboys saddle their horses and ride them, is a direct import from Spain through Mexico. Read up on Vaqueros and take any story related to them and, ignoring names of people and places, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a US-american story and a story from south of the border. The Mustang, the quintessential cowboy-horse, is an amalgam of various free-roaming horse-races that were imported from Spain and Al Andalus and the word Mustang derives directly from the word the Spaniards used for those free-roaming horses: mesteño or mostrenco.

And if your entire arguement is based off of "But the US isn't just related to Mexico", nobody said that. You brought up Mexico as an example to, presumably, disprove what I said before. The US is a complex melting pot of cultures that expands way beyond just the countries neighbouring it. The point is: Cultures mix, especially when they are locally connected. This is the natural state of things, something you expressed astonishment over.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

And if your entire arguement is based off of "But the US isn't just related to Mexico", nobody said that. You brought up Mexico as an example to, presumably, disprove what I said before. The US is a complex melting pot of cultures that expands way beyond just the countries neighbouring it. The point is: Cultures mix, especially when they are locally connected. This is the natural state of things.

If you're going to play General Semantics, then I never said anything about Pakistan and India having no shared heritage. US/Mexico border guards don't exhibit shared heritage to that extent.

Having commonality between farmers and ranchers isn't here nor there.

[McAvoy]

As an American I don't identify with cowboy culture much, as distinctly American as that is.

You don't have to identify with every detail of your cultural heritage to still derive from that culture and be influenced by it. Besides, you yourself just mentioned how "distinctly American" cowboy-culture is. What now? Stop changing goal-posts...

I am just going to point this out as an person who actually lives in the country. The whole Cowboy culture doesn't cover the entire US. There isn't a Cowboy heritage for example in New York or New Jersey or other East coast states.

Yes certain aspects of it has migrated over and integrated with certain aspects of 'Southern' culture. Sure you could go also go to Cowtown NJ and find out there is a rodeo there but it's not even close to being a popular spot. There is no 'cowboying' in Cowtown either. Cows are enclosed with strong fences where they are allowed to free range but are also fed in large pens.

You come to NJ state for example you will find heavy European influences here. Irish, Italian, Eastern European etc. You go to Pennsylvania and you will most definitely find Dutch influences there.

The fact that we have tacos, salsa etc is no different then us having pasta, potatoes, and sausage based dishes.

The point is that yes, Texas and Mexico share alot due their border. But citizens in states far away (the US is a large country) do not identify culturally from people who live in Texas and neighboring states. It's different. Many states and their citizens have their own identities, we don't derive our cultural heritage from there. We have our own.

Don't mistaken Taco Bell for American culture heritage as awhole. We also have something called the Outback too. There is a reason why this country is called a melting pot.

[hammerofglass]

As an American I don't identify with cowboy culture much, as distinctly American as that is.

You don't have to identify with every detail of your cultural heritage to still derive from that culture and be influenced by it. Besides, you yourself just mentioned how "distinctly American" cowboy-culture is. What now? Stop changing goal-posts...

I am just going to point this out as an person who actually lives in the country. The whole Cowboy culture doesn't cover the entire US. There isn't a Cowboy heritage for example in New York or New Jersey or other East coast states.

As someone who has lived in rural Pennsylvania and upstate New York most of her life and worked with farmers and cows for a lot of that: yes, cowboy culture absolutely is a huge deal in this part of the country. It's honestly kind of adorable. A lot of it is cattle farmers amusing themselves by cosplaying as a different kind of cattle farmer.

[McAvoy]

As an American I don't identify with cowboy culture much, as distinctly American as that is.

You don't have to identify with every detail of your cultural heritage to still derive from that culture and be influenced by it. Besides, you yourself just mentioned how "distinctly American" cowboy-culture is. What now? Stop changing goal-posts...

I am just going to point this out as an person who actually lives in the country. The whole Cowboy culture doesn't cover the entire US. There isn't a Cowboy heritage for example in New York or New Jersey or other East coast states.

As someone who has lived in rural Pennsylvania and upstate New York most of her life and worked with farmers and cows for a lot of that: yes, cowboy culture absolutely is a huge deal in this part of the country. It's honestly kind of adorable. A lot of it is cattle farmers amusing themselves by cosplaying as a different kind of cattle farmer.

Mmm. Yes. It's cosplaying. Cowboy hat, boots and all. Yes, cowboy culture somehow got intertwined with basic freestock farming. But they don't really do any of the things that actual cowboys (and in some areas) still do?

Its called country lifestyle. But at the same time, you still have that anti-country lifestyle, the almost Blue state version of it.

The point is really, cultural heritage is still specific the areas that they came from. People from the South have a whole difference cultural heritage than those from the North. Specifically those from states that was in the Civil War. Your cultural heritage is taught practically different in every state. It just one part part of a collective whole.