From: tyadav@athena.mit.edu (Tapesh Yadav)
Subject: Heritage and Culture..
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:53:51 GMT

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>> mps1@cec1.wustl.edu (Mihir Pramod Shah) wrote:
>>>In general, yes, you are right, there is much self-hatred on the part 
>>>of Indians going around, especially on the part of SOME IA's.  As an IA
>>>myself, I would like to stress to every II and IA that we should on the
>>>one hand be proud of our heritage and on the other hand present our culture
>>>and interact with mainstream American society.  Thank you.

 tyadav@athena.mit.edu (Tapesh Yadav) questions:
>> For once, could someone please tell, what these terms mean/imply:
>>  "our heritage"

 mba2@Elroy.UH.EDU repliess:
>The ideals your/our parents/family instill in us.  Yes, you can't take
>all of the ideals, but there is something there, that i'm sure is good.

 These ideals are everywhere. What is unique to "the ideals
 your/our parents/family instill" that isn't instilled by
 humans in Argentina/Zambia ?

 Which "good ideals" are unique to your heritage, that ain't found elsewhere?

>>  "our culture"
>
>AHHHHH...... Finally, I'm gonna get really philosophical here, so if you
>want to skip it, please do.  Culture (i.e. way of life, mind you not 
>religon)  For reference sake because I consider myself a Hindu, i will stick
>to Hinduism.  It is that which over generations has been created in a society
>which helps to bind people together to something common.  All right, the rest
>of you before you go off on talking about the crusades and jihads etc..., let
>me finish.  All aspects of our/your/whoevers culture are not necessarily good.
>But, for example, showing respect to your elders is not such a bad thing.  Or
>for that matter, taking care of your parents when they are old (having them
>live with you, instead of putting them in a home) is not such a bad thing.
>Calling your mom/dads friends uncle/aunti is not a bad thing.  Etc...  Look,
>you can either keep the parts of our/your culture that are good or you 
>can disregard every thing because somethings are bad 

 These things are natural to every human, IMHO. And we do (or want to do)
 these things because that makes us happy - not for the sake of culture.

 The basic reason of doing these things, in summary, is: this is right
 for me and this makes me happier.

 There is another way of looking at these things. If you have some way
 of deciding which part of the culture is good and which is bad, then it
 implies that you have some standards/principles already. Well, then, why
 worry about culture etc., decide directly from the standards/principles
 you have already.

>>  "pride in heritage,"
>
>Again, this simpy upbringing.  I am proud to a punjabi.  My interpretation
>of being a Punjabi for example: We don't stand for shit from anybody.  Fine
                                 ------------------------------------
>we kill a few people here and there, no bid deal.  <-- Your'e supposed to
>laugh at that, not get mad.  Look, my parents raised me to be a person, along
>with it came some strings.  Those strings are related to their experiences,
>their parents experiences, and so on.  If I can't learn something from them,
>than were their lives wasted?  Supposedly you can use history to help predict
>the future.  Historians pour over books trying to show trends of things to
>come by looking at the past and our past mistakes.  Why can't individuals do
>it with the experiences of their elders, hence their Heritage.  I'm proud of
>my parents, their accomplishments and the accoumplishments of my culture.

 I am just another human and I "do not stand for shit from anybody" either.

 From your viewpoint, our heritage is collection of experiences of our elders.
 So then, lets get this straight. There is nothing called as "our"
 heritage. Because, experiences are pretty universal to all populations.

 Basing behavior on experience isn't the best way of going about life, IMHO.
 The other option is thought/reason; doing things because it is 
 right/just/fair/happiness. 

 Experience tends to get irrational with time. An American experiences an
 orthodox, irrational brahmin and adjust his/her behavior toward 
 all people with similar features. Is that right? No, we would say.
 Living life by experience is one easy way to become intellectually jaundiced.

 Personally speaking, I never care about what my forefather's culture/heritage
 was/is. In social life, I present "myself," and "my" thoughts/reasons.
 And I am happy with the quality of friends I make/keep. 

 The phantom of the culture can take care of itself. If it needs to.

T.Y.
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tyadav@athena.mit.edu
Newsgroups: alt.culture.us.asian-indian