Thanks Rocky,
I think this leads into a subtext of a larger issue with just occurred to me, many people may disagree with me on this.
Culturism- which after a fashion, I have some sympathy on
Not that one culture is superior to another, not at all.
I think that is completely subjective on who you ask. What I do not dispute is that not all cultures can integrate easily, without possible sacrifice from one or other of the cultures.
Culture by Webster’s definition is defined as customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. The characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time
Essentially a community that develops it own identity, customs, develop their own values of what is right and wrong…any of which may appear alien or even wrong/evil to members of another culture.
Ideally, I see that when two cultures integrate each continues to respect their culture of origin, while learning to integrate with each other. Ideally. I think the American expectation is that you assimilate into ours, and preserve your origins in your own time. Which makes a kind of sense, since they are migrating in, but the rules and expectations for this are very ad hoc and not all defined.
This gets further complicated by trying to integrate non adjacent cultures, where the ideas of right and wrong are vastly different, or becomes even more challenging with ambiguous things like agreeing on abstract concepts of what is moral or not, or agreeing on social norms. Historically, this generally gets worked on its own after a decade or so as people see each other as individuals and not glossy stereotypes of their culture.
However, I want to emphasize that generally, isn’t always, and often tensions and resentment build, that sometimes cascade into violence. Shouldn’t we be more thoughtful about how we integrate, and setting clear expectations?
Now in my mind baselines of racism, homophobia, and even treating women as equals, or generally dehumanizing a segment of people for arbitrary definitions is something the majority of the US culture can probably agree on. Though should we be asking that as a condition of immigration? Should we? I mean we are after all asking them to sacrifice a part of their accepted culture. If we should ask, we couldn’t enforce it of course, but maybe as a bar of social expectations? However, do we also owe them similar concessions if they hold a value dear?
What about their traditions? I assume we can say we agree we want to respect them, and encourage them to honor them as they see fit. However, what if those traditions run counter to our standards?
Ok simple example…what if some ritual requires the woman of the household to do a certain function and the man another? Sounds benign enough, why not. What if that tradition is the women does the dishes and laundry and the man earns the money! Even if they are otherwise equals. Is that crossing a acceptable social boundary? I think most might consider that undesired, a unaccepted social behavior. Now, what if the woman also agrees to this? See? where is that line? Who decides what it is? Who are we to take issue with their norms, as long as all involved consent? Do we owe them similar concessions as part of that integration?
I’ll admit I only recently started thinking about this. I have NOT read any papers on it. I reflect back on our leaders and the various public discussions on this subject in the last 20 years and cant recall any concrete expectations and role model to borrow from. Thoughts? Good reading on the subject? :)
Ill copy this also over to immigration since its probably more appropriate to respond there. :) Respond there
