...something i'm becoming more and more thoughtful and passionate about.
one of my best and dearest friends in the world is a black man. that in and of itself has indirectly exposed me to a lot of the racism of others and taught me to be careful how i think of things.
i think i felt true racism for the first time in my life earlier this year. and i may partly have felt it because i was tired and overworked, and it came upon me at times when i was mentally weak anyway. and not that i did or would ever have acted on it, but it did raise some questions in my mind. it led me to wonder whether i should consider that some cultures are superior to others. after all, the reason i felt racism against certain people was because of their culture, not really their race.
and not to say that my culture is really superior to another... that would be a dangerous thought. but i do think that if i am allowed (and encouraged) to dislike certain aspects of my own culture, then i should be allowed to also, respectfully and lovingly, dislike aspects of other cultures. this does not mean i can discriminate against a person of another culture, any more than i would discriminate against myself. but i think it is ok and good even to dislike aspecs of other cultures.
that said... more careful thought is needed.
1 comment:
Yes. But I think you need to carefully understand the other culture first, which almost never happens well. I struggle with this a lot over here. There are things I just don't like about the culture here. And there are things I don't like about American culture. But - for example - it is cultural to cheat on your wife here (and arguably, to beat her). I refuse to reconcile that in my mind. But it is cultural in America to be a mass-consumer with no regards to the people on the other side of the world in slavery (the women getting beaten and sold, the children working long hours in the factories). When it comes down to it, these "cultural things" that we don't like are really just humanities failures and lackings (sins, I suppose). Humanity wants to oppress and take power over others when it can. That goes across the board for all cultures, though manifesting itself in different ways. I think it is hard to separate "humanity's sins" from "frustrating cultural aspects." We are all flawed - all cultures and all people. What good does it do to constantly point out the shortcomings?
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