Despair.com posts “demotivators.” They seek to motivate through demotivate by “crushing dreams with hard truths.” One of their motivational posts was on tradition. “Just because you’ve always done it that way,” the poster reads, “doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly stupid.” This quote, I don’t think, is meant to be offensive or betray cultural intolerance. It is more I think an important and friendly means to communicate the importance of thoughtful evaluation. In our efforts as independent learners and visitors of culture, I think this is an incredibly useful reminder as to our primary responsibility as accepting, compassionate, and critically thinking global citizens. It adds another dimension to the definition of cultural awareness, of what it means to be culturally competent. For me, this means that we are not overly passive participants or guests in a culture. Acceptance and passivity can be easily misinterpreted as being “worldly” and “open-minded.” I think this is a mistake.
I believe that the ability to be able to constructively and sensitively criticize sources of misery/difficulty, or issues within an existing cultural system is important as a cultural participant. Isn’t this what members of the country do anyway? To some extent, wouldn’t these people invite different ways of spreading the message? Should we not show disapproval for the consequences of certain cultural assumptions, fears, and traditions? Racist, bigoted, and inhumane beliefs that are immorally inhibiting the well-being and lives of others should not be accepted or let go, even if they are of a different culture.
I’ve chosen this topic for reflection for two reasons. First, as a prospective historian, to understand another culture provides new eyes into one’s own culture, and into the other. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I see one of historians’ job to destroy myths and irrational conceptions of the past and understandings of how the present came to be. Second, there were a few cultural presentations that inspired this post, specifically Susan’s presentation about marriages and Layla’s presentation about the tremendous prestige ascribed to doctors. I found myself curious as to how these issues affect individual human experiences, for better or worse, why, and which groups had particularly strong opinions on the matter. This is another layer of cultural understanding I hope to delve into with my own study of Bosnian culture and the effects of the war.
Indeed, to understand a culture, it is important to experience its reality as it is. Of course, the more comprehensive one’s ability to empathize with the society’s celebrations, treasures, and struggles, will make one more able to make better and more careful suggestions for positive social change.
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