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Originally Posted by Halx
Well, these differences may look like HUGE problems to us, they obviously have different values. If they are happy and proud of their own values, then there is nothing wrong with them. If they can resist change from over 200 years of outside exposure, yet still be able to survive strongly, then who are we to judge the worth of their culture? You can get all Christian Missionary on them and condemn them for not having the same values as us, but that won't get me nodding my head.
Remember, fish don't even have long-term memory, yet they continue to fill the ocean. Just because a certain society does not possess the same traits as ours does not mean anything.
So, let's just read about 'em, learn a little bit about psychology from 'em, and leave 'em the fuck alone.
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I am not saying that their culture should be changed, and I am not attacking their "values". However,
surely you can see how given two groups of organisms of the same species, if one has vastly superior technology then they have an obvious advantage right? And also because the group that has inferior technology is the extreme minority it would be appropriate to say that they are deficient in comparison to the "norm". Finally I think we are in agreement that their unique traits are primarily the result of their culture restricting their thought processes from developing.
Therefore: In terms of the survival possibilities of the members of the culture, the culture is deficient.
Fish do not have impressive mental abilities and there are an awful lot of them, but that is not really what we are talking about. If one group of fish, due to their culture were able to build modern technology and drive around the ocean in little tanks and the others were stuck with being just fish you would be willing to label the techno-fish as superior... perhaps even intrinsically rather than attributing it to "culture".
Resisting change is no indication of the worth of a culture, especially one that is not only based out in the middle of nowhere but also renders members mentally incapable of understanding anything else. Just because people have been acting the same way for hundreds of years does not mean that their actions have any more worth than the first time it was done.
The simple fact is that given challenging conditions their tribe, as a result of their culture, would be destroyed long before the rest of the civilised world. This makes their culture
inferior.
I thought it would take more time, but PCness is already crippling our ability to reason.