There were a lot of things that I thought I clearly knew, but actually my understanding was wrong. For example, I thought the red color made bulls angry, but they are in fact colorblind and charge a cape because a matador is waving it. Besides, the Caesar Salad was not named after Julius Caesar but it was named after a chef named Caesar Cardini who invented such a menu at his restaurant in Tijuana. Today, I found another misunderstanding after reading a piece of news on BBC website. Interestingly, piranhas seem to bark more often than bite. According to “Piranhas communicate with sound, say researcher”, Scientists have discovered that instead of attacking, piranhas use sounds to communicate and to threaten their rivals. Dr. Eric Parmentier, lead researcher from the University of Liege, Belgium, said that "For animals, it's less expensive to make a lot of noise and impress the other guys, rather than fight”. His team has also indicated that there were piranhas’ three different noises. To display themselves, piranhas make a distinct bark while confronting one another but not fighting. Moreover, piranhas produce a drum-like beat when they chase one another, and a softer croak is made while biting each other because of snatching food. Although he got a lot of useful information, Dr. Parmentier and his team hope to go on to study the fish in their Amazon River home to find out more about their acoustic repertoire.
Thankfully, this piece of news gets rid of my misconception about piranhas, which was given by Hollywood films that has always presented the Amazon fish as the nasty predator. This news also reminds me of common misunderstandings about Thailand. Many foreign people think that my developing country still uses elephants as public transportation. Additionally, some tourists regard Thailand as the land of smile because they think we are so happy all the time. In fact for Thai people, smiling is used for expressing various emotions, such as embarrassment, confusion, or even worry. However, I like these misunderstandings because they lead to the raise of income from travel business. Unfortunately, there is one wrong belief about Thai women which has often concerned us. It is said that the majority of Thai women are taking part in prostitution. Although it really exists in my country, prostitution is not the most popular occupation in Thailand. It is not fair for a number of women who are good mothers, competent teachers, or even the prime minister. Even if I do not clearly know how to change it, I hope someday we can correct this undesirable misunderstanding.
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Plan,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's a very good thing when our false beliefs are corrected. For example, I used to think that the world was becoming a more violent place, but that's completely wrong. And after looking at the very strong and readily available evidence, I can't believe I was so silly as to ever believe such an unsupported idea. And in many cases, the environment is becoming less polluted and damaged than 100 years ago. New York, for example, is a much more pleasant city today than 100 years ago - all those horses for transport produced some filthy solid pollution.
Also on violence, I used to think that Thailand was a peaceful country, but that's false, too. In fact, the US is less violent than Thai society, and most Western countries are less violent than the US. The most violent societies are almost always traditional, primitive cultures.
But even if they bark more than they bite, I still don't want to go swimming in piranha infested Amazon waters - the local human Yanomamö tribes are some of the most violent people on earth.
Plan,
ReplyDeleteI read your post well. Thanks to your post, I corrected my something that I knew but is wrong: Caesar Salad was not named after Julius Caesar and new knowledge about piranhas. Moreover, due to it, I could have time to think about wrong beliefs. Actually, because I can not correct my wrong knowledge myself, it was impossible to think about, so I entrust this to time. However, one thing passed by my mind: the wrong beliefs about knowledge is serious, but more serious thing is wrong beliefs about people. I know this agenda can solve in a short time, but I feel good to have an opportunity to think about it deeply again.
By the way, I like Thailand very much of course including people.I promise that I will promote Thailand
as a supporter after going back to my country.
I totally agree with you all that it is good to know any information correctly with out misunderstanding. Most of people always misunderstand the fact of many things in daily life because of preconception and basic knowledge background.
ReplyDeleteWhat it appears, it is not always what it is.
I thought that Mur's latest post this evening, on the value of vitamin and mineral supplements, might be another example of popular but unsupported beliefs.
ReplyDelete