<p>Interesting perspective el duque. Quite true. </p>
<p>It seems in my case, in terms of friendships and ethnicity, stuff just happens. It’s probably definitely along the lines you describe. Normally my friends have similar values to my own, but they just happen to be a different ethnicity. Because of this, I actually like to poke fun at race and various stereotypes, especially when amongst said friends.</p>
<p>@bernie2012: Thanks for straightening out those percentages. I assumed they wouldn’t be exact, but I thought they’d be close considering they looked similar to those I received in some Emory brochures I got last fall. </p>
<p>@el duque: I agree with the general premise of your ideas here, regarding the influence of pop culture and technology, etc. I think my sociology teacher from my high school even talked about this view for a little while during our societal norms unit. I’m not sure if this goes along with your opinion or if it doesn’t, but I think American society is generally becoming more open to embracing differences…not exactly saying that it’s becoming more diverse. And I also think this in acknowledgement that media and personalities are influencing American values.</p>
<p>I hope you didn’t interpret my post as my saying that I go out of my way to befriend people who aren’t like me. I specifically wanted to communicate that I try to make friends “with the ruling judgment simply placed on whether they’re friend material” and that I was able to develop great relationships by being neutral to my friends’ backgrounds, neither paying favorable or negative attention toward specific ethnicities or demographic traits. I couldn’t agree with you more about how your “white friend who suddenly ‘decided’…that he really likes Asian people and their culture” is acting ridiculous. I also did not mean to come off as believing I am some extraordinary “open-minded and progressive thinker” if that sentence of yours was directed towards me.</p>