A Cultural Refinement

I shall now attempt a refinement on some former opinions regarding "culture" :

In the past, on Teardrop Souffle, I've tried to make the case that "culture" (just like "religion") is not a sacred, undiscussable entity that must always be respected from afar and left alone. While it is true that outsiders never understand the inside as well as they think they do*, I also believe that various cultures, just like various religions, definitely need to being discussed, criticized and considered. Why should any line of human thought be beyond investigation? I feel this approach is ultimately more respectful, not less, to the participants involved and more likely to result in a more inclusive civilization, rather than a ghettoized crazy quilt of various isolated groups of society who have no understanding of one another outside their costumes and recipes.

My position is largely in response to an outlook that I was first exposed to in anthropology classes, and which appears now to pervade liberal thinking. (And believe me, I'm a liberal). I am responding to several erroneous beliefs:

1) The belief that all cultures are equally good and respect-worthy, regardless of what happens there.

2) The belief that the outsider, not being from that culture, doesn't really know enough to understand, and it is deeply arrogant to assume that our opinions ever matter.

3) The belief in the noble savage: what we call primitive societies are probably much closer to ideal than so-called modern society- people in primitive societies live in peaceful cohabitation with their surroundings and each other, and it is only when modern society, with its corrupting captitalism, invades and disrupt these societies that the imbalances, and therefore violence, environmental depletion, etc. occur. (Anthropologist Roger Sandall has lots to say about romantic primitivism.)

Even though I list them as falsehoods, I also do agree there is value to be found in these viewpoints. The underlying ethos in the above sentiments is "respect" and "humility" in our own viewpoints, and these are a precious values. The human tendency (in my opinion) is to value our own perspective more than others, and the above claims are attempts to temper that temptation.

So, what's the problem?

The problem is that an attempt towards understanding the truth is the most precious approach of all. Again, I'm not claiming that I have the truth or you do or that we'll ever acheive it, but I think that working towards it in a spirit of open inquiry is the most valuable approach out there.

When we put up false protections and say "oh, that's their culture, I can't criticize that", then we're cutting off discourse, we're stifling thought and we're ultimately isolating ourselves from others.

I think that the more effective approach is to respectfully take on the question of "what is going on here?" In other words, to actually give a shit.

In past entries, I've been crude and I've said "some cultures are better than others". Now I'd like to refine that, and propose the phrase "some cultures work better than others". In changing that verb, what I mean is that some cultures work better for the individuals within it than others. I think that it'd be helpful to think of the individual as the client, so to speak. It is the individual who matters and who should be respected. The culture should serve the individual, certainly not the other way around.

I also like this refinement because I think that it is in the secular humanist tradition of valuing the individual- humans (and other animals) most. We don't put god first , we don't put culture first, we don't put ancestors first, we care about what works for the individual. And, it also might clarify that I'm trying to think about culture from another's perspective, not just my own. What's more, we are all individuals, each of us vulnerable to less than ideal culture norms. ( Ideally, I'd like for us to relax our dependence on "culture" in constructing our personal identities. That might be impossible, but to me it's an ideal to strive for. For example, just because I was a southern debutante doesn't mean I shouldn't read fuckthesouth.com. Cos it's really funny-- and quite true. It especially doesn't mean that the guy shouldn't have written it.)

The issue of veiling comes to mind. Yes, it's probably true that I don't understand the complicated reasons why women wear veils in some Muslim cultures. I do try to figure it out, though. Because I care about people, care about women, I try to figure out what's going on when I see a woman on the subway platform, draped entirely in black, including her socks, sneakers and leather gloves, peeking out of a narrow slit of cloth. To me, my gut reaction is I am observing a woman, perhaps living just a few blocks from me, who is quite nearly a slave. It's a nasty, sickening feeling. I'm sure the real story is more complicated than that, and I need to continue to try to understand better. (Science encourages us to investigate our intuitions, not to take them on face value, right?) However, our friend Danny would say "We don't understand, that's her culture, it's deeply arrogant to claim what's going on". And yes, maybe I don't really know what's going on. But I have spent some time- years- trying to figure this out. I think it is not beyond the realm of possibility that this (not even truly traditional) dress is a symbol of something very bad. Because I think that culture can be very bad- human nature can be very bad. The wearer of all this might likely say her black cover is about modesty, about humility toward god and man, and she may say she feels most comfortable being anonymous on the street. These are various explanations I've been given, when I've intestigated this question. And I can see value in these approaches. But I also think here is a person who is literally and figuratively trapped in her culture. Is this okay with Danny? It's not okay with me. I don't think this culture seems to be working for her- helping her live up to her unique personal potential. And that's my wish, for everyone.

I think ideas matter, ideas shape society. So even though, yes, respect for individual freedoms and civil liberties are important, so is open discussion. I'm not claiming that the veil should be outlawed, but I am claiming that it is not beyond investigation and critique. One may accuse me of arrogance if I seem to say "I understand what's going on". But to me, more unsympathetic and arrogant is the implicit claim " I don't need to even try to understand what's going on, and really, we shouldn't even speak about it."