From: wdw@math2.sma.usna.navy.MIL (Wm. Douglas Withers -- math  FACULTY <wdw@sma.usna.navy.mil>)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: What is culture? (was: Brainwashied
Date: 6 Jan 93 15:30:55 GMT
Organization: U.S. Naval Academy

In article <7568@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com> blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:
>There's a lot to compare about cultures,
>but whether one is better or worse is rarely one of them.

Making an overall evaluation of one culture as better or worse than another
is generally (a) very difficult and (b) or little or no benefit.  However,
it is possible and useful to judge particular  e l e m e n t s  of various
cultures.

For example I have no problem saying that female circumcision, which is
a widespread and important element of some cultures, is a BAD IDEA.  I do
not see it as simply a creative "attempt to reconcile and deal with the
basic human condition."  But even those cultures in which female circumcision
is important may have something to teach us in other areas of life.

>It is difficult to point to different cultural aspects and make
>definitive judgements as to which are better or worse than others.
>If a culture achieves stability and harmony within itself, and
>meets many of the goals set above for its members, then it is truly
>difficult to judge any disadvantage over another culture, and one
>begins to express preferences for their own set of symbols or
>their own manner of coping in an attempt to quantify various
>approaches that have solved the same problem for different sets of
>people.

I would say sometimes difficult and sometimes not.  See the example above.

There as a (all too seldom explored) middle ground between Eurocentrism
(by which I mean asserting that our culture is superior to all others without
qualification) and cultural relativism (by which I mean asserting that it
is impossible to make moral comparisons between cultures).  This middle
ground is the belief that any culture may contain some superior aspects
and some inferior, and that any society is free to learn and adopt better
solutions to life's problems from others.

>That we point fingers
>at other cultures and define them as racist or xenophobic is
>a fairly shortsighted thing to do. We (in America) have 200
>years as a nation, and only the last two generations have we seen
>a viewpoint where the common good for the culture has been seen
>to be overall acceptance and equality for other than the caucasian
>race, and for those other than the people born on our soil.

I often describe the situation as some other society being `behind'
the USA in combatting racism.  This description conveys simultaneously
the fact that the level of racism in the other society may be the same
or lower than in the USA of the (perhaps recent) past, as well as the fact that
the other society may not have begun to confront the racial issues that
we in the USA are struggling with now.

>I guess I wouldn't be so quick to put down a people wholesale,
>even if many members display basically the same attitudes 
>as my parents or grandparents did.

I keep seeing a particular viewpoint expressed about racism in Japan.
The comments run something like this:

Premise:

"Japanese people assume that I wasn't brought up in Japan just because I have
blue eyes and blond hair."

or

"Japanese people always tell me how cute my gaijin kids are."

or

"My Japanese textbook had as an example sentence `Foreigners can't use
chopsticks.'"

Conclusion:

"This just shows how viciously racist and bigoted the Japanese are."

There sure are some grumpy people out there.  The cited behaviors are
racism, technically speaking, since they involve judging people on the
basis of race.  But they are not the moral equivalent of lynchings and
concentration camps.  It's probably a good idea to try to correct these
types of behavior.  But it's unnecessary and counterproductive to be
nasty about it.  I am arguing here (believe it or not) for the concept of
a `kinder and gentler racism.'

I am convinced that almost all Japanese people I meet hold a mental image
of me in which the fact that I am a gaijin plays an important role.  However,
they also try their absolute utmost to treat me warmly and kindly.  I have
better things to do with my time than to get offended by that.
-- 
Els Withers                   email: wdw@math2.sma.usna.navy.mil
          phone: (410)267-3192 / fax: (410)267-4883
		  
The real difference between humanity and other animals:  birth-control pills.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan