Our culture is what impedes us from progress on a social and even economic scale. The old traditions, the old standbys, all are ingrained into our heads from birth and for some reason held to a lofty standard of superior and prime validity. This is particularly evident to me in the assumed gender roles. Man works, woman tends etc. It's evident in many things however. Regional racism and bigotry, ideas about sex, drugs, politics and more. The culture we inherit (or are forced to inherit) is dangerous. Not just American culture, but ALL culture. Culture is the enemy of progress and of a better society. As long as we keep pushing what we've been pushing for a thousand years, we'll never get out of the Dark Ages.
I am not saying nothing good can come from culture. Certain values can be stolen and used to your advantage, the good ones. Every culture has some good values. Take them and use them for yourself, but let go of all of the things repulsive about culture (and there are a lot in my opinion). Most of all, never fall static, never become lazy and accept what cultural traditions are imposed upon you by your parents, your peers or yourself. Homophobia might seem culturally acceptable in your High School. Reject it. Sexism might seem culturally acceptable in the office. Reject it.
Force yourself to fearlessly question everything anyone tells you is right. Don't fall in line behind a mouthpiece, saying, "This is right because s/he says it is." Question everyone, even those you agree with. Not only will this develop a philosophy and culture all your own, unique to you, but it will refine your ability to think critically and give you more control over your own life. The ones who lose the fight are the ones who give up and accept what society is piling on them.
It's not easy to reject culture and make your own. Besides the lack of passivity necessary to accomplish this, we have the TV's, Internet, movies, billboards, magazines, commercials, churches and schools working against us. That's a mountain of opposition. Still, I know that people can overcome and develop their own culture in the face of these odds. If I did it, I know that you can do it.
This is a call. Make your own culture. Write your own commandments and your own constitution, but always leave space on the paper, because nothing can ever be totally forced to stay the same.
4 comments:
I have to agree, though I would call it "tradition" we accept and push our "traditions" simply because that is what we always have done...science does it (BOOOH Scientists) governments do it, and people generally do it!
Very much agreed...break the mold- STOP following simply because "thats what we always did!"
I am not married (as you know) but I am very much with the person who is the mother of my children, I am the stay at home caretaker...NO tradition- just logical approaches to life.
AWESOME post! May I re-post?
you may absolutely repost this and I am glad to see you breaking the mold and stepping out of the traditional lines set by gender roles. Bravo to you for your efforts, because it aint easy.
thanks Jesse. By all emans repost!!
wrench
The culture we are living in has no inherent meaning, and no dialogue with nature, If we are fortunate, we may have an ocean retreat from the man-made. If we are less affluent we may make special trips to connect to nature, be it at the zoo, or the botanical gardens. But for most of us nature is absent from our daily life.
We seek solace in the physical. We buy what we don't need, because it is supposed to make us feel good. We work harder to buy more, because it may make us feel better. Safer. In the process, we become alienated from our families. We spend too much time at the office, we have too much work pressure which we hope will translate into money and purchasing power and ultimately, safety from financial anxiety.
We are living in a culture that believes that science is the only valid way of knowledge. Instincts and tradition have become left aside. We are experiencing an age of rapid change, increasingly scarce resources, growing population, cultural mixing and many uncertainties about the future.
The fact that stress and culture can be among the primary causing factors of depression makes it clear that depression cannot be defined simply as a "brain disease". That we need to attack depression from other angles such as the culture in which we live in.
I agree on some parts and not so much on others- Traditions can be dangerous and you should definitely think over whether you agree with them or not. Nothing should ever be decided without consideration/by some one other than yourself.
But 'culture'- a term usually used to mean a country's/area's media, music, art, etc.- isn't necessarily a bad thing. Of course it depends on quality and content but you can't generalize something like this. Culture can sometimes do the opposite of what you suggest in your post.
Also in regard to Jesse, I wouldn't say science always follows traditions- the whole point is to discover new material, ideas, etc.
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