Losing Organs at a Party: The "Kidney Thieves" Legend and the Immigrant Experience
My family, most being first generation immigrants, has at times a slightly negative view of American culture. Because of this, many of the family dinner conversations are about the differences between American and Iranian cultures and often how the Iranian culture is better in some ways. To support this theory many urban legends are brought up that show the “dark side” of the American culture. For example, when the family was gathered together for the Iranian new year, a version of the famous legend about the traveler who was drugged and robbed of his organs in a hotel room was told by a family member. It is important to note that he told the story in Farsi, which means that I am translating and not merely re-telling the story verbatim.
The storyteller's version of the story was about an Iranian foreign exchange student who had recently come to the US. The story begins with the student, being alone in this country, going to a party he had heard of from other students. In the party, having had a few drinks, another “American thing” my family is against, he met a beautiful innocent girl who offered him a drink and asked to go to his place at the end of the night. The tone with which he described the girl was specially interesting, noting that even the innocent looking girls cannot be trusted. The story goes that the Iranian student did not remember anything from that point on until he woke up the next day in his bathtub covered with ice. There was also a note next to him telling him not to move and call 911. When the ambulance arrived at his apartment he was told that his kidney was removed and that he was not the first person this has happened to. To add to the accuracy and suspense of the story, the storyteller, a physician, mentioned how the ice was used to keep the student’s body cold to prevent excessive blood loss and inflammation, which was essentially what kept him alive. After being discharged from the hospital for a few weeks with a missing kidney, a big hospital bill, and having fallen behind his studies, the student found out that there is an organized ring of organ thieves who specialize in lonely foreign students, who are as the storyteller sees it, more susceptible to being seduced by girls.
The story was told to him by the main subject, his gym teacher. His teacher told the story to his health class one day as a firsthand account, although he never specified when it occurred. This is the version told to me:
America was formed on the basis of culture. Many different cultural backgrounds flocked to this one area and in the process many existing cultures were destroyed, while the new influx of humanity meshed to create an American culture. This constant flow of cultures from all over the world has kept the American culture in a state of flux. Each historical period has presented its classical viewpoint of American culture through the eyes of its most accomplished authors. There are narratives about clashes of cultures, presentations of cultures and even some focused on teaching a culture. The narratives provide a glimpse into an era that may no longer exist.
Misrepresentation has been a known term all around due to its implementation in many different cultures around the world. Misrepresentation can leave a bad image for something. It can also lead to stereotypes given. Nowadays, these stereotypes are hard to change because they make part of our social lives. To add, they are present in the media, and people, like younger children are being misinformed of what something is really is. This leads to racism and other social conflicts within our human race. In the case of Colombia, an example of misrepresentation within its culture would be in the media through the Netflix Original series known as Narcos. This television hit surrounds the viewers around one of the most dangerous drug dealers in the world, Pablo Escobar. As a normal viewer, I enjoyed watching DEA agents Javier Pena and Steve murphy fight off all the smuggles working for Pablo Escobar, but as a Colombian I clearly viewed how my culture is being misrepresented to over 3 million viewers all over the world. In this
Urban legends can be effective conveyors of entertainment and morals. We all have heard urban legends during our lives, whether it was in a dorm room, the dinner table, or around the campfire, but rarely do we take the time to fully appreciate the value of the stories. Urban legends have this rare ability to make us question reality. We have this feeling in our minds that says “Oh, this cannot possible be real,” but then our imagination questions that and reels us in and plants a lingering doubt. David Emery, a writer and follower of urban folklore, defines urban legends as “told [to be] true, and plausible enough to be believed.” Besides this lingering suspense, urban legends and similar folklore often have underlying morals that are hard to uncover, but when they are, the stories become clear. When collecting stories, the best and most unique one was a local story native to a town in New York State. I vividly remember how he told the story:
A good urban legend is like a good movie. It unfolds perfectly and it appeals to the audience’s hopes, fears, and anxieties. The urban legend I am about to describe was told by a first year female biology major at the University. She is of Indian descent and both her parents work in the biotechnology field. I collected this story on a Sunday night in the dorm. The fact that it was nighttime helped create the proper mood for the story. It was told in a dimly lit dorm room. The story was told with an eerie tone of voice, with emphasis and excitement during certain parts. The final part of the story was told in a mysterious fashion, which helped with the delivery of the ending.
Sabbagh, S. J., & American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, W. C. (1990). Sex, Lies, & Stereotypes: The Image of Arabs in American Popular Fiction. ADC Issue Paper No. 23. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
TheNative American culture were very intresting when it came to how they lived.They told all types of stories to explain where, what,when,and how things came to be .An example is the amount of respect that the Cherokee Tribe showed and gave to animals.In the story it repeadtly says “The Fox said...The Possum said..The Buzzard said”.This shows that theNative American culture favored and
In conclusion, it is very obvious that the stereotypes that Hollywood creates about certain nationalities, ethnicities, races, and gender that are ingrained and prevail in the minds of many Americans. Though some can be as comical or entertaining, they should not be tolerated or continued. By allowing media to feed us with knowledge of the unknown only perpetuates the ignorance behind such atrocities like racism and hate related violence. The research conducted for this paper shows that these false stereotypes about Asian Americans cross all borders. Young Asian American males at UCI can identify the same false perceptions of Vietnamese American women that we find in the media, because that is where those ideas are taught. Until the media eliminates these negative stereotypes of all people, ignorance will prevail.
“Rituals and Traditions; It Takes a Tribe,” written by David Berreby and “Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” written by Jane Tompkins, both exemplify a typical controversial topic in the United States of America today. The US prides there self on the basis of freedom, and how Americans are made up of individuals with backgrounds from all around the world. Many consider the US to be a “melting pot”, a society where cultures are just blended together and not recognized fully on their own, where as others consider the US to be a “salad bowl”, where people of international cultures hold fast to their traditions and practices and coexist with the cultures around them. Both authors of the readings propose that generally speaking,
In the humorous and enticing tv series, Parks and Recreation we see this happen to a Native American character named Ken Hotate. Ken is the leader of the tribe, along with the owner of a casino. The director of the parks department, Leslie Knope, is trying to host a carnival for the community but the only place it can be is on the battle site of Indian Hill, a seven day battle that his tribe lost. During this battle a lot of their tribe was killed including their chief who was shot one hundred and twenty two times. Basically the episode shines light on how bad the United States treated the Native Americans in the past but while doing so it also portrays stereotypes including their supposed uncivilized ways. Leslie begins to tell Ken that there is no way they can move the carnival from the ancient burial site, so Ken replies saying he understands but hopes that his ancestors don’t place a curse upon the carnival. After saying that it shows him alone saying that he knows how white people are terrified of curses. Obviously there is irony in this fact that he is using his culture’s stereotypes to get his way but it works. In the end, Leslie and Ken work things out but she asks him to hold a “sacred” ceremony at the carnival showing that he has released the curse on the carnival. He agrees and shows up wearing a chest plate along with a
When I was learning English back in Uzbekistan, books published during the Soviet regime were the only source of information about American culture. Unfortunately, much of the information in those books was biased and subjectively critical of the US. Hence, the students who had a genuine interest in American culture were subjected to a propaganda, which portrayed the American people and culture in a very negative way. Therefore, I reasonably expected my future experience in the US to be nothing more than the affirmation of statements made in those books. But, I was off to a big surprise.
As part of our study of culture, my peers and I were asked to write a paper reflecting our own cultural background. I have always considered myself "all American". I shop, I eat fast food, I drive my own car, and watch too much television.
blocked has now shut down. This kidney, if left untreated for just a few days,
The first example concerning the American male who was raised in China, accurately portrays the correlation between culture and biological inheritance in a real life circumstance. Although the male was American by blood, his facial expressions, mode of thought, and body language were all from Chinese decent. I know this to be true because genetically I am a full Jordanian. Both my father and mother were born in Jordan, but I was born in America. Because I was raised around an American lifestyle, when I visit my family in Jordan they mock my gestures and expressions because it is different than what they are accustomed to. Even though I look Jordanian, when I am in Jordan people can recognize that I don’t belong
Zimmermann, K. A. (2013, April 22). American Culture: Traditions and Customs of the United States | LiveScience. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from