Different Incentives for Different Cultures

Heard that story of how the native (Red) Indians sold the area known as New York today to the whites for a bunch of beads? Sounds crazy, until you realize that different cultures value different things. But if you thought all that was ancient history, think again.

Like take this example: in most parts of the world, a kid who wins an award gets a gold star, a certificate, a pat on the back or sometimes even cash. In others? Well, they win guns and bombs! No really, I mean it: A couple of weeks back, an Islamist insurgent-run radio station in Somalia said it was awarding guns, bombs and books to three children in a Koran recital contest.

I guess it’s stuff like this which led the Brits and Germans to announce that multiculturalism has failed in their countries. Because there is such a thing as too much tolerance.

Comments

  1. KumarOctober 8, 2011 at 3:05 PM

    It will always come to one fundamental in many issues I suppose: Going to extreme is never good for the health of the mind. Let's see its place in this point of multi-culturalism.

    I feel to conclude that "multi-cultural tolerance is incorrect" cannot be a balanced view. In actual reality, intolerance and superiority-complex is a natural outcome of any cultural identity, when contrasting or varying cultural ideas surface. Such attitudes has been repeatedly shown to be one-sided, self-centered and lacking in fairness. Cultures with fanatic clinging are so closed minded that they rarely come out of their well. How can that be good?

    While we may come forward more easily to blame the Western culture who showed willing to open towards multi-culturalism because "of the failure and unfair advantage a wrong doer gets", we cannot forget that today's Muslim world's very high inability towards multi-culturalism can hardly convince anyone that clinging and glorying one's own cultural identity can be good or right. Islam, in practical terms as asserted by that religion's fanatics (plus the near absence of voice within against their own wrongs) seems to have zero tolerance for the values of other cultures. Is it a great culture?

    If multi-culturalism is in low of values, then are we going to certify that Islam with its remarkably low level of multi-cultural tolerance is actually following the right direction for progress and goodness. Can this be correct? If Muslims are happy to gift guns to children for reciting the holy Koran correctly, it looks horrible and inhuman to me and possibly to many good humans may not think well of such actions.

    The solution for the sane world lies in the right balance of following one's own cultural background and its values, while being open and tolerant to other people's cultural ways. That some cultures refuse this concept is not any proof that the concept is bad.

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