Cultural Stigma

[Daxis]

I personally believe that culture is bad for the world.

It's kinda hard to explain in words without going in circles, but I'll try:

Culture is made up of various things for one to be proud of. In culture, there is history, territory, and general philosophies of life, which I'm naming religion. History is what has happened in the past(obviously), things such as the people that have lived, what happened, how things came to be. History... isn't good. Wars, rape, and general destruction brings you to the present territory seems to be a very important part of culture once you think about it: people will give meaning and importance to places, such as Jerusalem or a mother country, and it is because of these place that there is such things as territorial disputes, which lead to war, which leads to hate and a whole crapload of other things. And religion... Crusades, jihad,9/11, salem witch trials, etc.

You have culture, and you are proud of it. I really don't get that. You are proud of all of the above? I'm vietnamese, why should I be proud my ancestors were enslaved by china for a thousand years? Why should you be proud of your culture, when pride is one of seven sins, the greatest sin? That's one of the things I don't like about culture, that people are PROUD of it. I know that culture itself sort of has to exist, since civilization exists, but why should we be proud of the atrocious past?

 

[Incognitus]

Just so we're clear, is this a symposium topic in favour of abolishing history?

 

[Ellie]

So... just keep the good culture and drop the bad.

I'm proud of my own culture because things like this were made:

Royal London building, Wolverhampton

Should I not be proud of that just because we once had slaves and were ruled by Tory and Whig?

 

[Incognitus]

So... just keep the good culture and drop the bad.

I'm proud of my own culture because things like this were made:

Royal London building, Wolverhampton

Should I not be proud of that just because we once had slaves and were ruled by Tory and Whig?

Wolverhampton is emphatically NOT something of which we should be proud, Wyatt. Go and visit the Tate. But not the Tate Modern - obviously.

 

[High Hopes]

Culture is a part of our lives, whether we like it or not. Atrocious things were done in certain cultures, but there were great things done as well. No one is saying that you have to be proud of the awful things. Just be proud of the good things and the fact that your culture has(hopefully) moved past that.

 

[mawk]

I agree. I am anti-culture. we should live in square concrete buildings and wear rice sacks.

 

[Daxis]

You really can't(or shouldn't) be proud of JUST the good things in a culture; you have to take it all. If you're just going to ignore the bad things, that's just trying to be ignorant, which is pretty horrible since even worse things derive from ignorance. Trying to be ignorant of the past that you have had leads only to worse things like discrimination and exploitation. What I'm trying to argue is that being proud of a culture is generally being stupid: look at the Victorians and the Secret Museum of Naples, actually trying to hide their cultural past.

Besides, keeping the good culture leads to just the same old cycle: you need the past to learn from your mistakes(hopefully...), and just trying to ignore that would be stupid.

 

[Ellie]

It's not being ignorant, it's realising "oh wow we did some cool shit as well as the bad shit."

 

[mawk]

so what exactly is your point about culture? you seem to be changing your standpoint and your general definition of culture at random here.

 

[Lune de la Cruor]

Culture is so much more than history and places.
Culture is architecture, music, the fine art in general, language, habits, traditions, technology and so on. Those are reminders of their specific time, things that reflect a certain achievement, represent a certain event or are just impressive in their very way.

History... isn't good. Wars, rape, and general destruction brings you to the present territory seems to be a very important part of culture once you think about it: people will give meaning and importance to places, such as Jerusalem or a mother country, and it is because of these place that there is such things as territorial disputes, which lead to war, which leads to hate and a whole crapload of other things. And religion... Crusades, jihad,9/11, salem witch trials, etc.

History is not bad. It's just that human beings did bad things. Same with religion. People like religion because it comfortable to have something to believe in and it gives them security. (I'm not a fan of religion myself) Just because there are wars and religious disputes doesn't mean that culture is bad. In fact I wouldn't consider religion a part of culture really. It does affect culture but it's not a legitimate or essential single constituent.

You have culture, and you are proud of it. I really don't get that. You are proud of all of the above? I'm vietnamese, why should I be proud my ancestors were enslaved by china for a thousand years? Why should you be proud of your culture, when pride is one of seven sins, the greatest sin? That's one of the things I don't like about culture, that people are PROUD of it. I know that culture itself sort of has to exist, since civilization exists, but why should we be proud of the atrocious past?

I don't think people are proud of the bad things that happened in the past. I am German and I am definately not proud about the Nazis but things like ruins of concentration camps are reminders of those happenings and they are a warning for future generations and also memorials. I can't help what happened 65 years ago, because I didn't live back then, but it is something that made a huge impact on the whole world and thats why you need reminders, which capture the pain, the destruction of that time and make it clear to younger generations to never let something like that happen again. That's what history is for...

 

[NexS]

No matter how much you wish it away, what happened has already happened. Hence, there is 'the past" hence there is 'history'. and seeing that this 'history happened in a place it is, at least on some level is 'culture' or a culture building event.

i don't think all people are proud of their culture as fact. like what Lune said, the nazi's weren't the coolest people in history, but what you can be proud of is what your culture has made you into.

I'm sure the whole nazi situation has given people a better appreciation of other people and religions whether it is believed or not. there are far too many lessons to be learned from cultures and histories that can be said in one reply, but learning from other peoples life experiences is definitely something to be proud of

 

[Xaixis]

Humans have the tendency be emotionally drawn towards groups. Whatever it be, a school, country, gang, sport's team (even if your a fan), nationality, etc. We generally like being included, being within a group of familiars with similar ideas and interests. Its just who we are.

Sure, there are fights and arguments, but whatever. I'd rather have conflicting individualities (sp?) then a common universal humanity... *yawn*.

I don't understand why you think people are proud of the evils they did though. Your mentality of "be proud of all of it or none of it" just isn't how it works.