Everyone sees the world through cultural glasses
Shoshin1
Veteran
I found this old Ted Talk interesting...
Everyone sees the world through cultural glasses
Over the years I've had the good fortune to be in a position to travel to many parts of the world ...This Ted talk reminded me of how travel and interacting with the locals can enrich one's life and the lives of others....being in the position to experience cultural differences firsthand...
I should point out that one does not need to travel great distances to experience this...one just needs to take an interest in the different ethnic groups who live in your country...
All too often I've heard (in somewhat negative tones) things like "They are not like us"..."They have no respect for......." and so on...For the most part, the people saying these things more often than not know very little or perhaps nothing about the other people's cultural and traditional differences...
Comments
This sort of thing has been on my mind the past several years in relation to the rise of the internet. We're of the age where we remember pre internet days. There was one sort of feeling that it will help bring us closer, now we'll be able to talk to people we never really had the opportunity to before. I think in many ways the outcome has been the opposite.
The internet allowed people to connect in ways over similar interests that wasn't possible before, this site being a good example of that. More so for people with more marginal and ostracized interests and identities. On the one hand, this has actually been a great improvement, on the other we less and less have to interact with people outside of our bubbles. Those cross cultural skills atrophy and we feel less of a need to build bridges, we have our people already. As opposed to travel where we meet with differing "tribes" face to face, online those innate interpersonal skills that unite us all are lacking.
At any rate, I'm far from having any answers or solid position. It just feels as though there is way more cross cultural strife these days and the internet seems to be a big source of that.
I'd say that I think doing one's best to remain open and curious about others and the world around you helps. I'd also say look beyond just ethnicities, being curious about what people are like who hang out at the beach playing volleyball vs what the people are like who spend their evenings at the veteran's hall vs the local food shelf, etc.
Entering the world of online TTRPG's the past few years has been a growth experience for myself in this regard. On the one hand everyone shares a common nerdy interest, on the other I game with a broad range of people, a couple of army grunts in one group, a shy German guy, a male grade school teacher, a grandpa from Atlanta, a young black guy from Indiana who likes to cosplay at nerd Conventions and party, an Arab trans woman from rural NY and recently a female teacher from Puerto Rico.
It’s not only the internet though. The other day one of the carers for my stepfather was telling me what she goes through with her 13-year-old son, and what happens in his school. I live in a fairly multi-cultural town of about 100k people, and haven’t had a lot of contact with the schooling system, so it was a bit of a shock to hear that at the largest schooling community they have an on-site police presence of 10 cops who have their own office there, to deal with knife crime and stuff.
It seems this son has been picking up bad habits from his peers, exhibiting some punk-style behaviour while his friends order shoarma takeaway in the middle of class. There is a real discipline problem, and no respect for school as an institution of learning or a desire to prepare for a career. A lot of it seems to come from the kids from an immigrant background.
It’s different to hear about these kind of things in the paper, or to come across them from people who actually have to deal with the fallout and effect on families. We live in our own kind of bubbles, where we don’t have to take notice, and while @shoshin1 says moving out of your bubble can be very rewarding, you might also be shocked what you find.
^^^^ …… Oh my. * clutches pearls * On this here Sunday morning of the Lord, I shall refrain and practice right speech.
The immigrants may ‘shock’ you….but unfortunately your presented sentiment is not shocking to me. Heard it a million times….i think by an orange guy that has a comb over. 😂
I vote as far left of centre as it’s possible to get, by the way. But immigrants are a mixed bag, some of them are hardworking and very nice, and some of them have criminal tendencies. Treat them individually and be as cautious as you would be with any unknown person and you won’t go far wrong.
This can also be said when it comes to immigrants who have to interact/deal with the locals...
"The locals are a mixed bag"
"Some of them (the locals) are hardworking and very nice, and some of them (the locals) have criminal tendencies.
"Treat them individually and be as cautious as you would be with any unknown person and you won’t go far wrong." ....
I believe either now or in your past you were either an immigrant in America or are now an immigrant in the Netherlands.
People are a mixed bag. It is often useful to look at group dynamics in determining policy and there are often differences between one group and another, but there is usually a greater range of people within any group than there is a range of distinction between groups. Its important to always look at people as individuals and not put them in one box or another. Human disposition slides into tribalism very quickly.
Good article @person. Especially the ‘why would we be surprised’ points. I could fill-in-the-blanks with that one all day.
While it might be true that everyone views the world through cultural glasses
those glasses are just descriptions of how we habitually respond to phenomena.
A meditation practice offers one how to start allowing incoming phenomena to freely arise, exist, & depart, past the habitual inclinations of our own identity constructs.
Each moment of meditation that are expressions of selflessness over baser levels of self fortification, then adds to a further dismantling of our human condition's programming interferences.
The degree that we allow our meditative interactions in life to be prioritized over interactions that are based on ego/identity programming, is the same degree that our cultural glasses can be cleared of their former viewing limitations.
I was an immigrant in the States, and have my experiences being part of a group in the communes where I grew up. I reckon I’m probably a bit too alternative to be considered a “solid citizen”, which is fine by me.
This is interesting to me. Maybe human beings are happier being part of a tribe.
I noticed this too. I do think people like to belong to a tribe, I think its a hardwired feature of our evolution. It brings a lot of important things with it, it also brings a lot of things that may have served us well in pre civilization times, but causes a lot of problems in today's larger, more interconnected world. When we sort the world into us and them, a lot of habits come along with that. Its a deep and complex topic that I don't have the understanding to really get into. I'd just say that its an inescapable part of being human that evolved in a different world, we need to be careful of its downsides and create cultural norms that help steer us in more helpful direction.
It reminds me of the Harry Potter films, where the children in Hogwarts were also divided into ‘houses’.
In this post I will claim that it is excellent to intellectually see all groups neutrally but that for many (most?) of us - even as we claim to see this way - in our hearts the us/them dichotomy remains active on a deeper level. Exorcising this deeper level through spiritual practice is highly commendable, even though difficult.
Here is the shortest version of my personal example: I grew up in a war-zone, a normal part of the day was to watch war-related news, my city was bombed, I went to bomb shelters, etc. It was always "the Serbs" which were vilified, and "the Croats" which were sanctified. I never knew any Serbs but as a young leftist and student of political science took great pride in not harbouring any ill-will towards them. In every debate on the issue I would argue along the lines as has been argued in this thread - that there are no "Serbs", just various individuals.
At around age 20 I participated in an international youth camp and met the first Serbs I ever met. To my great shock and dismay, my first reaction was one of - fear! My later life-long Serb friends told me that they felt exactly the same way and had exactly the same views before our meeting.
I don't know who cracked the first joke, but the way in which we loosened and transcended this fear was to call each other the worst nationalistic names we could in a humoristic and endearing manner: I called them "Četnici", they called me "Ustaše" (basically, a Nazi). Through this humoristic approach, without avoiding the underlying tension, we quickly became best friends and did everything together during the camp and remained excellent friends to this day. A decade later I was gladdened to see that our "method" is endorsed by Slavoj Žižek, a world-famous Slovenian philosopher.
I thought I had this cracked. Then, one day, I realized that STILL whenever I heard the word "Serb" there would be a low-level fear response in my body. I asked my Serb friend whether she felt the same when she heard the word "Croat", and she said yes!
I became really, really pissed off and decided I would not tolerate this for one more minute. I meditated on this issue for three hours, had a realization, and the fear went away. I tested myself on various youtube videos of Serbian singers, politicians, etc., and was sooo happy that it went away.
However, today I find that this fear has crept back in, so another meditation might be in order. I believe it is due to the continuing Serb-villification in my surroundings.
What I'm trying to say is: we can have one view intellectually - and it is very good to have a good one - but still harbour the reverse in our "pain-body". The real work, to my mind, is working with this pain body, to align it with a better state of being.