LadyEllen
Posts: 10931
Joined: 6/30/2006
From: Stourport-England
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Termyn8or
I think the OP alludes to the fact that some cultures simply aren't ready to be assimilated into what we call western culture. I agree.
This wasnt it T.
I was probably a bit too ambitious in thinking what I started out with could end up where I saw it eventually going, and I agree that there certainly was a lot of avoidance and displacement going on as the posts came in that derailed it even further from that ambition. Its going to be a stretch to get all this out in one go, but I'll give it a try.
The point I was trying to move towards was the idea that we judge other cultures according to the standard we think ours sets, and condemn primitive traditions and behaviours in others without a second thought - even though this goes directly against the non judgemental liberal thinking that the majority here (it seems) subscribe to.
But more than that, we associate peoples extricated from those cultures and into our own with the same primitive ways - in fact, the truth is we regard them in general as less than us, whether they are in their original locations on this earth or whether they are here amongst us. Even whilst we claim everyone's equal now, we hold to this idea of the supremacy of our own kind - after all, our kind's culture is dominant and so right, and so are we. Even if those from other parts of the world are here and thoroughly westernised, this prejudice remains.
And yet, history shows that under the skin we're all pretty much the same, or at least have all been the same at some point. We've all been out on cannibalistic orgies, we've all killed others as sacrifices, we've all used human body parts in our magical traditions.
What occurred to me was that we might get a discussion if I guided it, which would inevitably come up hard and fast against all this - but more particularly against the most recent human sacrifices in white cultural history - the lynching and burning of black men from the post civil war era in the US into the 20th century. Make no mistake - these are expiatory rituals little different to those of our ancestors, and which share the same thinking patterns of any ritual murder.
And from there to the idea that if we now hold this to be wrong - as we must if we condemn the very same thing when Africans do it, we must also then examine our deep down thoughts and feelings on the remainder of our primitive thought patterns - this racial pride thing in particular, and the antipathy and prejudice against black people in our societies.
We are no better or worse than people of any other extraction, its our thoughts, words and deeds that do that for us.
Rejecting Obama because he's black is therefore so ridiculous in this context - and there are plenty who do. It was a long way round, (nr6 nearly saved me the trouble but hey), but the idea was to argue this case all the way through to its natural conclusion, which was what nr6 just blurted out, and which MzMia in the meantime also proposed more straightforwardly in some ways in their respective threads.
The disappointing thing was it got derailed, taken for something it wasnt and then ignored for the most part. But I think it would have made an interesting debate, and having stayed up all night last night to guide it - and no bugger bothered with it! -I'm not sure I've explained it all fully now, but thats life!
E
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In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.
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RE: ritual murder in South Africa - 
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