Cultural Identity

[zoolane]

I like all cultures and people. x

[Buh4Bee]

I respect different cultures and most people.

[osho]

While I love people of all cultures and I have a kind of equanimity across all cultural and ethnic classes and races I have a different idea about cultural identity.

I am now somewhat into Buddhism since Buddhism does not shed blood and has a somewhat clean history by comparison and it is somewhat closer to atheism I am at home with the rest of other religious communities. Why should I after all feel antagonistic to any faith-hoder as far as they do not take their religions for
propagating their ideologies.

In fact I do not believe that religions or cultures have helped mankind. Cultural identity ultimately leads to animosity and kind of combativeness, conflict. We are in fact always in conflict with each other to establish or restore our cultural identity.

[Paulclem]

I don't like all cultures. What I mean is there is a view that cultures have a right to no criticism - to some undefined right to no-criticism. In my view this is short sighted. If you adopt this attitude then you are sanctioning culturally based practices like female circumcision, caste, class, the oppression of women through some loosely religious rulings - often by men - but which often have no real religious sanction than the culture into which that religion is a part. You sanction a neglect of proper and effective birth control which will lift people out of poverty - particularly the women who suffer with it.

Of course such an attitude has to be cautious. We all know how we can be affected by cultural bias - the my - culture - is - better - than - your - culture attitude. But some things are really beyond the pale, and are clearly to do with ignorence or the exercise of power.

Some cultures - or rather aspects of some cultures - I don't like.

[cafolini]

I don't like all cultures. What I mean is there is a view that cultures have a right to no criticism - to some undefined right to no-criticism. In my view this is short sighted. If you adopt this attitude then you are sanctioning culturally based practices like female circumcision, caste, class, the oppression of women through some loosely religious rulings - often by men - but which often have no real religious sanction than the culture into which that religion is a part. You sanction a neglect of proper and effective birth control which will lift people out of poverty - particularly the women who suffer with it.

Of course such an attitude has to be cautious. We all know how we can be affected by cultural bias - the my - culture - is - better - than - your - culture attitude. But some things are really beyond the pale, and are clearly to do with ignorence or the exercise of power.

Some cultures - or rather aspects of some cultures - I don't like.

Couldn't agree more. However, I'll go all the way to say "culture," period. The aspects are all interconnected. I only like cultures that promote freedom. The rest will eventually lose their battles and will have to adapt to usefulness. It's all in the hands of the aristocracies that rule them.

[Buh4Bee]

I don't like all cultures. What I mean is there is a view that cultures have a right to no criticism - to some undefined right to no-criticism. In my view this is short sighted. If you adopt this attitude then you are sanctioning culturally based practices like female circumcision, caste, class, the oppression of women through some loosely religious rulings - often by men - but which often have no real religious sanction than the culture into which that religion is a part. You sanction a neglect of proper and effective birth control which will lift people out of poverty - particularly the women who suffer with it.

Of course such an attitude has to be cautious. We all know how we can be affected by cultural bias - the my - culture - is - better - than - your - culture attitude. But some things are really beyond the pale, and are clearly to do with ignorence or the exercise of power.

Some cultures - or rather aspects of some cultures - I don't like.

Paul- It is an interesting time in history, particularly regarding the protests spreading through Arabic countries such as Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Algeria. The rising levels of youth being educated and the low levels of living standards- I read about- are some of the reasons sighted for the protests. I would also mention that the fact that they are run by dictators and the population is inflicted with severe human rights violations. So Paul, when you mention the short-sighted or naive trap people fall into by saying that all cultures are wonderful is true. I find that I try to respect people from different cultures, but I may not respect the government or lack of government activities that occur within the society. I think that the protesting people who live within such cultures are the best critics.

I also agree with you Cafolini.

[osho]

Cultural identity is more pronounced when you are abroad in a country of multiculturalism, in the US or in modern bustling city like London. In small countries wherein you do not bump into other cultural elements. Cultural identity is though seeming so paramount is in essence something that fragments our integrated human existence and creates a division.

[cafolini]

While I love people of all cultures and I have a kind of equanimity across all cultural and ethnic classes and races I have a different idea about cultural identity.

I am now somewhat into Buddhism since Buddhism does not shed blood and has a somewhat clean history by comparison and it is somewhat closer to atheism I am at home with the rest of other religious communities. Why should I after all feel antagonistic to any faith-hoder as far as they do not take their religions for
propagating their ideologies.

In fact I do not believe that religions or cultures have helped mankind. Cultural identity ultimately leads to animosity and kind of combativeness, conflict. We are in fact always in conflict with each other to establish or restore our cultural identity.

It used to be far worse. We are making progress. That's exactly the effect of cultural identity, as you state. For in the final analysis, every entity is a culture as the inevitable of differentiation takes place.
Buddhism is still a form of nihilism. It's against false values, but still nihilism that will be overcome with scientific evolution. But of most religions, Buddhism is certainly one of the most tolerant and easiest to tolerate.

[Buh4Bee]

Cultural identity is more pronounced when you are abroad in a country of multiculturalism, in the US or in modern bustling city like London. In small countries wherein you do not bump into other cultural elements. Cultural identity is though seeming so paramount is in essence something that fragments our integrated human existence and creates a division.

It seems that a division can be caused by the evil or ugly side of humanity. We turn our backs or "hate" in the name of intolerance. For example, one might believe that all people are this way, because they are from that repressive culture. (ie. All Americans hate Arabs, because they are scared they will blow up their plane.) Or cultural identity can unite a nation, such is experiences in cases of nationalism.

Agreeing with you, when I was in Europe, by the third week, I wanted nothing more than a real McDonald's hamburger. I never go there. And I wanted some god damn free ketchup. I was feeling my patriotic skin.

We may live in a global economy, but we still live in our little holes full of bigotry and xenophobia.

Cafoli- I have no idea what you are talking about.

[tonywalt]

Following some comments in another thread, I cannot help wondering what is the make up of our cultural identities.

What determines our cultural identities?
Our religion? Our nationality? Our ethnic background or where we live?

Our culture is determined by our behavioural norms, values and patterns of social interaction. I notice marked differences amongst various cultures in the Caribbean. Treatment of women springs to mine, first a foremost.

Do we tend to stick with our ethnic identity throughout our lives or do we end up doing as the Romans do whenever we are in Rome?

I tend to stick to my culture(European descent) throughout my life and have never parroted the broader Caribbean culture which is rather pronounced in certain islands in the Caribbean.

For those who have "straightforward" lives (born and bred in the same cultural atmosphere), I assume, this is an easier question to answer but for those of us who were born in one cultural environment and end up establishing lives in different (and sometimes incompatible) cultures, it is a rather confusing and, somehow, painful issue to deal with.

The transition from American culture to British culture is quite a small challenge. I have no issue.

So what is the make up of your cultural identity? How do you define yourserlves?

I define myself as person of European decent living in the Caribbean, and the generations above me defined themselves the same. All the evidence reflects that we have always preserved this culture on a conscious level and will continue to preserve it. Having said that I feel no bigotry nor zenophobia, and my interactions support my fairness.

[Buh4Bee]

Having said that I feel no bigotry nor zenophobia, and my interactions support my fairness.

And that is certainly true for some many of us on Litnet, but prejudice is still wildly prevalent throughout the world. That is all I meant.

[Alexander III]

I would just like to say a point. I go to university in england. All my friends at university are similar to me, we come from good families and we are all very internationally. And there is something else we all have in common. When someone asks where are you from, what nation - we say Europe. We do not feel Italian or French or Spanish - we feel European.

I find it amazing - for the EU can only progress towards more unity not with laws or conferences or taxes or various political and economic treaties - but when a generation replies to the question "where are you from?" with "I am european" that is when Europe can really become untied.

[B. Laumness]

Alex, what you describe may be true for people who travel and live in many European countries, who speak many languages or just the new lingua franca, that is English, and who share more or less the same values. Yes, these people are European, just like were European all the well-educated men of the Roman Empire and during the Middle Ages, who were united, despite the wars, by the Latin, by the same laws, by the same beliefs, by the same roots, by the feeling of being a part of a common history and having a future together. Virgil, Tacitus, or Seneca are not known as Italian, Gallic, or Spanish writers, but Roman writers. Augustine and Thomas of Aquino are separated by almost ten centuries, but they are close by their language and their faith. The slow loss of influence of Latin, which was still the idiom of the erudite persons in the late 19th century, in which they were writing their thesis, and the gradual rise of the popular languages – our modern languages – created kind of barriers between the people and developed the idea of nation. Since the Renaissance, the “good European”, if I take an expression used by Nietzsche, is most of all a polyglot, who can be a patriot, but also who overcomes the national feeling, who aims for unity and universality – this latter being a European ideal. That does not mean the cultural and linguistic differences must be eliminated. On the contrary, the strength of Europe resides in its diversity, which allows a fecund confrontation of points of view, an emulation, and an inventiveness, whose lack was a damage for China during many centuries. Nowadays, when I see that the young Europeans learn English, write English on the Internet, speak English in the meetings, and that very few are able to speak another language except their mother tongue, I have mixed feelings: on one hand, I think it is a good step towards the union; on the other hand, I fear it is the sign of a standardization and a cultural impoverishment. I am not persuaded that the young Europeans are been taught to read and enjoy Shakespeare, Goethe, Hugo, Leopardi, and Cervantes in the original text, let alone the writers of so-called minor languages. I am not sure that many people feel European and say, when asked about their nationality: “Me, French? No, I’m European!” The will to live together, which is essential in the feeling of being a part of a community, is still feeble. What a Polish has in common with a Portuguese? What a Swedish has in common with a Greek? When I see the nationalist furor during the football matches, I think many Europeans are far from forming a same family. The economic crisis will show us whether solidarity between our people really exists. I stop here, for we cannot talk about politics on this forum.

[tonywalt]

And that is certainly true for some many of us on Litnet, but prejudice is still wildly prevalent throughout the world. That is all I meant.

Yea, I agree with you. I completely understand what you meant.

[osho]

Cultural identity is something most want to build up unthinking it finally leads to a sort of combativeness. This is something that walls you against the rest and the other party too builds a wall to secure their cultures and that is why in a multicultural country like America every cultural trying to establish is likely to fight with the rest.

Culture in itself is not bad but the aftereffects of culture can imperil a country.