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warrrreagl · 09-23-2004, 08:38 AM

Forgive me if this has already been said, but I believe Westerners are too quick to view other cultures through Western values, and thereby impose a Western interpretation onto an event that is clearly not Western.

In a very poor example, imagine the Asian viewpoint the first time they saw a Scotsman wearing a kilt. My guess would be that they might view the Scottish man as being effiminate, because in their own culture only women wear skirts. This would be an example of interpreting someone else's culture through your own limited view. Watching midwesterners thrash and flail about every time they see a Confederate flag in the South is another example. Although that flag is the direct equivalent of Ku Klux Klan to people in the midwestern US, it has many, many varied and complex meanings to Southern people (both black and white). Therefore, it's foolish to attempt to interpret someone else's actions through your own admittedly different values.

Disney used to anthrophomorphize animals in a similar way in their little nature films, and we all got used to interpreting animal behavior by comparing it to a similar-looking human behavior. Zoologists still cringe at the thought of those 1950's Disney films.

Therefore, although I personally don't want to eat another human being or beat my wife, I would not dare be so arrogant as to tell another person in another part of the world that they shouldn't do that simply because it gives me the willies and wouldn't be tolerated on my street.

09-23-2004, 08:38 AM	#39 (permalink)
warrrreagl pinche vato Location: backwater, Third World, land of cotton	Forgive me if this has already been said, but I believe Westerners are too quick to view other cultures through Western values, and thereby impose a Western interpretation onto an event that is clearly not Western. In a very poor example, imagine the Asian viewpoint the first time they saw a Scotsman wearing a kilt. My guess would be that they might view the Scottish man as being effiminate, because in their own culture only women wear skirts. This would be an example of interpreting someone else's culture through your own limited view. Watching midwesterners thrash and flail about every time they see a Confederate flag in the South is another example. Although that flag is the direct equivalent of Ku Klux Klan to people in the midwestern US, it has many, many varied and complex meanings to Southern people (both black and white). Therefore, it's foolish to attempt to interpret someone else's actions through your own admittedly different values. Disney used to anthrophomorphize animals in a similar way in their little nature films, and we all got used to interpreting animal behavior by comparing it to a similar-looking human behavior. Zoologists still cringe at the thought of those 1950's Disney films. Therefore, although I personally don't want to eat another human being or beat my wife, I would not dare be so arrogant as to tell another person in another part of the world that they shouldn't do that simply because it gives me the willies and wouldn't be tolerated on my street. __________________ Living is easy with eyes closed.