Cultural Sensitivity.

1) Last month I ran into an Israeli sociology grad student I know at a student function, and we began to talk about classes.

"I'm taking network analysis," he was like.  "It's all the rage right now."

"Oh," I was like, "Is that where if you know fat people who know fat people, you're more likely to be fat?"

"Exactly," he was like.

"Gotcha," I was like.  "So, because I know you, and because you know a lot of Israelis, that makes me more likely to spit on Palestinian babies."

"Not exactly," he was like, gritting his teeth.  "That would be a fallacy.  First, you are confusing correlation with causation.   Second, not all Israelis spit on Palestinian babies.  Only some."

Then, as we talked more about network analysis, the tension lessened.

2) A few weeks ago I ran into a Taiwanese grad student I know and told him about the Chinese-speaking undergrad who I saw spitting on the floor.

"She must be Chinese," he was like.  "I'm *Taiwanese*."

I then asked him if he's ever heard of people spitting on the floor in China, since I was wondering if maybe it was a cultural thing in that girl's head.

He hadn't.