Apr
1st
2018
Do you believe your culture is perfect? · 1:32pm Apr 1st, 2018
People are quick to judge other cultures, but do they ever look in the mirror? Here are some of the problems I see with the culture you live in:
- segregating genders by establishing restrooms for each sex
- allowing inexperienced people to handle children (first-time parents)
- forcing people to wear clothes
- forbidding children from working for money to achieve financial independence
- slaves (interns) are worth nothing and the employers don't even have to provide food to them
Do you see any other problems in your culture? Let me know in the comments below.
Blog inspired by this thread.
None are or ever will be, we humans are fundamentally flawed, it is our greatest strength and our greatest weakness.
4830124 Good point. Still, I believe improvements are possible, even if perfection is unattainable. The first step to progress is looking at the current state of things and pointing at the aspects that can be improved upon.
What's really interesting about this sort of thing is that, until someone points it out to you, not only do you not think about it, but until they point it out, sometimes you don't even know there's anything to think about. Examining a culture you're deeply involved in is like opening the box with the crowbar that's locked inside. Mind-bending, which is why it's always interesting to look at how other cultures do it differently.
So I suppose high on my personal list is "a widespread tendency towards living the unexamined life", though I appreciate in busy times it's too easy to let it fall by the wayside. Just to stick to literary and language-based subject matter for the moment, there are a lot of fascinating dead metaphors concealed in everyday language (like "dead" metaphor itself, actually).
For example, "salary" derives from the Roman word for salt due to this being such a valued commodity that it could work as currency in the army, hence "a man worth his salt". Why salt? How can a currency be based on something we put on our fish and chips? Is there a limited supply of salt? What is currency, worth, and value?
I'd love to think there are more people out there who find this inherently exciting, but I suspect most people regard salary as "just another thing to worry about". This saddens me; hardly anyone who isn't a language enthusiast would even try to find out stuff like this. It's certainly not central to modern culture, and I think there's a missed opportunity.
Also, re: your own points, I think there are defensible reasons for all four of them, though these might be just the post-hoc rationalizations of a biased and entrenched insider. Gender issues tiptoe heavily around the issue of the s-word and thus it's probably best not to make it easy for misunderstandings when "doing your business", natural parenthood is probably a less worse alternative than any system imposed from the outside, modesty is a less controversial default position, and children come under "inexperienced and vulnerable" and need preparation before being entrusted with anything potentially risky or complicated.
Anyway, I've gone on enough, but fascinating post all the same.
Segregating restrooms are fine, what's wrong with them. The only men who would want to get rid of those are sex predators.
How the hell are people supposed to become parents if you don't allow them to raise their children? How the hell would they learn?
Clothes are necessary. Protection from the weather and allowing everyone to walk around nude would be every sex predator's dream come true.
Children should work for money, it will give them ambition to actually work. Making them do it for nothing provides them with zero ambition to put any effort into it.
Here are my problems with our society.
Allowing commoners to have any say in who is in charge of running the government....seriously, look at what wound up getting put in charge. A hereditary monarchy (absolute only) is the way to go. Republics and democracies are the embodiment of inefficiency, waste and division within a nation.
Forced diversity, shit like affirmative action and race quotas, too much inclusion. If a business owner wants to hire no one except those of one race and/or religion, that should be their right.
Every culture has its problems and are generally flawed a whole lot more than they are great but of course some are far more flawed than others.
I'm not allowed to kill the whores.4830127
Fine, make a good point, I'll go dick around elsewhere.
4830293 Yes, you're right. We take way too many things for granted. Words we use are a prime example of that. Every one of them has a story to tell, but we pay it no heed when we use it.
Misunderstanding steems from ignorance. Isolation only makes the problem worse. We should strive toward understanding eachother more, not less.
The majority of human existence, children were raised by the whole tribe.
I don't see anything more modest than no clothes at all.
They used to say that about women.
4830359
It's people who get segregated based on their sex. I would know, it happened to me.
I guess that makes me a sex predator in your book then.
You can make pilots without giving them planes to play with. Same with parents.
By some other means, that doesn't involve experimentation on children.
The whole of the animal kingdom would disagree with you.
When they gave clothes to some tribe, they started getting sick because they stayed wet after being exposed to the rain in their clothes.
What's with you and sex predators? Are you projecting?
Then why is it illegal for them to get a job?
I agree with you. Some benevolent dictators made Utopia out of their lands. Alas, there were also some who abused their power.
Indeed, sometimes people are forced to hire people who aren't fit for a job, just to meet the quota.
Indeed. We should strive to be the ones who are less flawed.
4830359 Why would you want to kill whores? You wouldn't be able to hire them again if you did that. It would be a waste.
4830309
Finally someone who aggrees with me. As to my problem is:
The destruction of traditional roles. A man should natural be a father and the provider he provides for the entire family and also is the stern by fair figure which the male members of the family should strive to be. The mother is the glue of the family, the one that is supposed to maintain the family united and is also the one that nurtures the children and instills with them the family values.
My other problem is the blatant propaganda and attack at other countries that are not democracies. So what if Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, so what if China is a one party state, so what if Pakistan is a military junta its not our problem, their people are not our own, neither are its internal affairs our own, thats also why Im against helping Africa with grain drops, they should either develope on their own until they take places at the first world or they degenerate into the failed states they really are.
Thirldy my other problem is with the leaders our countries gets and leads to one of the reasons I hate democracies, in a democracy the party that wins is the party that pursues the most acceptable line of thought in the general population while silencing the other that may or may not be beneficial, now that is not to say Im against silencing other parties, I wholeheartedly approve of Poland's ban on the communist party because that is a matter of learning from your mistkes, what I hate is that our parties silence other parties that might actually be beneficial like the Technocracy in America or the Libertarian party here in Spain
4830127
Ill point to one of those problems:
Infidelity to ones own partner
4830532
>Segregated because you went into a bathroom
And it never occured to you to apologize politely or you. Get to the mens bathroom?
4830532
I don't want to kill the whores, but I'd like to have that option available. Y'know?
And while I'm here, I think all bathrooms should just be unisex. It would immediately solve most if not all of the problems.
4830532
Are children mature enough to take that level of responsiblity, I am pretty sure when I was a kid I would screwed up a lot of things. Also it's not exactly a safe environment for a child, do you think a primary school kid is mentally ready to deal with an angry adult?
The whole of the animal kingdom would disagree with you.
When they gave clothes to some tribe, they started getting sick because they stayed wet after being exposed to the rain in their clothes.
Clothes are mor esuitable to colder climates, the countires such as England, Russia, China and much of the northern hemisphere have intense winters where being bare would very quickly lead to frostbite.
Well there are reasons for and against this, I don't really have much to say on this
The concept of a a set of people running the whole thing if flawed. I feel like times were better when every clan had it's elders, look at the Aborginals in Australia they maintained an effective and functioning way of life for at least 40000 years.
4830554
>Sudden increase in bathroom sexual harrasment
4830570
Because the only thing stopping that now are little signs on the door, right?
4830541
I guess this is where we will deviate. Just because I think that people need to use the restroom corresponding to the sex that is recorded on their birth certificate does not mean I am all for traditional roles. For Celestia's sake, we are men writing stories about ponies that are in a show aimed towards little girls....so technically we are breaking the "traditional roles."
Not anymore, well in the U.S. anyway. In this day and age, it normally requires two incomes just to keep a roof over one's head and to put food on the table. It is both the mother and father that have to be providers now and regarding being the authority figure, my view is it would be whoever keeps law and order. If it winds up being the mom who establishes order and keeps it, so be it. If the man is the one who keeps the family bonded, then so be it. My view is that a real man should be able to do both, both nurture and provide....same thing with a real woman. Without any ability to nurture, I think it is best if an individual stays single....and doesn't even bother getting a pet, much less a spouse and children.
This I agree with you on 100%. In this day and age everyone seems to think democracies are the ONLY was to go and here in the US, people really think that when we are not even an actual democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic. If we were a real democracy, Hillary Clinton would be president and we wouldn't have an arrogant buffoon in office trying to start trade wars. I'm not sure how things are in Spain but it sounds like you're not overly fond of the LIbertarian Party there.
And I am definitely no fan of just dropping grain over Africa, especially when the government there will often seize it and then just let it rot in a warehouse. Nothing irks me more than providing foreign aid when we (the US) won't even take care of our own AND in many instances it is to nations that don't have our best interests at heart.
Agreed, right now in the US the republicans have control of both the legislative and executive branches of government. Luckily with the way things are in our Senate, there are still enough democrats to keep the GOP from completely ruling the roost and cutting off social programs that the lower income people, many of which work and basically making it to where they would either starve, be unable to keep a roof over their heads or worse.....all I can say is God help us if the Senate ever was to go to a simple majority vote system like the House. America would be screwed if we did.
4830601
I said what I said about traditional roles because I want to go back at the time when the salary of a father was enough to provide for thr family, that was how it was in the western world and it should be here, that doesnt mean a woman cant study or get a job however, only in the case that job becomes morw important than your own family is when it turns into a problem
4830542
Do you believe infidelity is a cultural behavior? Does everyone high-five you when you tell them you've been unfaithful?
She was the one who segregated me based on my gender, and she didn't apologize.
It was taken, so I took the neighboring one.
4830548
Well, you kind of do have an option. And there isn't any downside if you choose not to act on it. With that mindframe, you get the best of both worlds.
A hundred years from now, you might get praised as a messiah
4830567
First, you say that they should be encouraged to work for money, and now you're saying the reverse. I'm not sure where your stance is.You don't live in those countries, so why don't you strip naked before going outside?
The problem with that is that some universal rights get violated, and there's no authority to prevent that. You get clans where pedophilia is a way of life and no one could do anything against it.
4830894
What do mean I'm contradicted myself , that frist point didn't cotradict itself in any way.
Also maybe it's just our time, humanity has made our mark now it's time for us to vanish as so many species have done before us.
4830947 I'm sorry, I mixed up the comments. Serves me right for doing a million things at once.
Anyways, children don't learn anything by growing older. They learn by actually learning, regardless of how old they are. If you protect a person from work all her life, she'll never know how to work.
Personally, I think we have a responsibility to the Universe to fulfill. Going extinct would be a disservice to the Universe. It would take millions of years before another species would replace us.
4830996
We are a parasite, if we leave Earth we'll just use another planet of resources and move on. We are not capable of building a sustainable society on a planet.
4831007 Do you think moving to space is the solution for human kind?
4831049
There is no solution for us, we're screwed. We have used up most of our oil our most vital resource and it will take us at least 1000 years before we are ready to go anywhere else to find more.
4831051 Which resources are we running out of? Can't we just recycle stuff to get back those resources?
4831055
Oil my friend, a resoruce that takes millions of years of crushing down on dead things to create, yet we have used up almost all of it.
4831056 Actually, we can get it from slate stone with the new technology. We have oil for hundreds of years to come. Besides that, we have alternatives to oil. If worst comes to play, we can just produce oil in laboratories. Also, do we really need oil, to begin with?
4831058
Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene come from oil only. Also slate oil from fracking isn't very plentiful, and it drops off fast. Also it poisons the water we have to drink with all the shitty chemcials they use to get it out.
4831060 We can make all those in a laboratory. Besides electric cars are the future. Oil might even become illegal in a few decades.
#AdventureInTheComments
4831369 I'm all for lively discussions. You're welcome to express your views. Surely, you don't think your culture is perfect in every way, right?
4831415
Gay culture is cataclysmic. Ya got ya soy boys, hiding from the truthers, contradictions, fashion kings, messes, disaster bois, and then there's me.
I ain't got much else to say!
4831429 I had to google most of the stuff you said, lol. So, where do you fit in all this?
4831441
I consider myself the mash-up. Little bit soy, little bit disastrous, little bit stupid. A whole lot of failing at life.
4831651 I see nothing wrong from variety. Why do you feel like you're failing in life? You're still alive, aren't you? That alone sounds like you won life thus far.
4831088
You can't make an electric truck, also electric cars not as efficient as petrol or diesel cars.
4831711 Why can't you make an electric truck? They make electric busses.
And yes, like in everything else, there are pros and cons. All I'm saying is we could survive even if there was no oil in this world.
4831687
I'm talking the achievement and progress part of life. My greatest achievement thus far being reaching this age I am now. I'm not interested in tqlking about that though. It depresses me to process the state of affairs for which I'm not sure I fit. Life and Living may be connected, but there's a difference. Life is the base component, Living is the added successes and failures that contribute to a finale.
4831973
The issue effcicicenyc Oil produces a ton more power than Oil also can we really convert the entire world to electrical power within the next 10 years.
4832192 Do you know what's more tragic than you wasting a day doing nothing? It's a Nobel prize winner wasting a day.
I don't think you comprehend the vast luxury you have. Other people don't have extraordinary expectations of you, and neither do you. You're one of the few who can stop to smell the flowers.
4832234 China will convert all the cars to electric ones in less than that. If nothing else, we can build as many atomic nuclear plants as we like, if we run out of electricity. Oil is important, but it's not the only game in town.
4832521
I feel the problem with Nuclear power is that they have to be constantly maintained to such a high standard and even if 1 single thing even goes slightly wrong you have essentaially nuked the cities around the plant.
4832553 That's actually not the case in the modern plants. You have to work extra hard to circumvent all the safeties if you want the reactor to melt. They're fairly safe. There are hundreds of them around the world and there's only 1 accident per a decade or so.
And even if you were to remove all the nuclear plants, we could get enough energy from solar alone. Oil helps out with our energy needs, sure, but we could also do without.
4832794
Well we'll let time be the judge, still it's not like we humans couldn't find another way to colossally screw up.
4832521
You just assumed what my life is like. Shame on you for assuming. I have simply stated that I have made little to no conscious effort to become someone to admire. Cause I do not want to be admired. Many others in my life have high hopes for me, but that made no difference. I'm expected to do great things, but I don't want to do these pointless things in hopes of a 1950-1960 idea of an American dream. Because why waste my time on materials and attention when I could do what brings me happiness and personal gain? Sure, that means I must achieve, and it's about time I start, but never assume a person has no expectations. Never assume some wants to sit there and achieve none. Because you have no idea.
Furthermore, the condescension you have achieved is that of a grandfather rambling to their grandchildren about the better days. I don't care if I waste a day, because here's a fact. I am saving my time and energy now, to do better in the future. To do what I want in the future.
Also, I am pretty sure this has gone off the topic of culture into personal life. I do not care to talk about that for prolonged periods of time. Especially not with you or others on this site, unless I feel it is necessary for some to know.
TL;DR, Quit assuming things about the lives of others, don't be condescending when engaging in polite discourse, and lastly, understand some people don't want to achieve anything yet. They have plans, not impulsivity. That concludes my interaction with this post, until next time.
EXACTLY! And:
"- allowing inexperienced people to handle children (first-time parents)"
Same goes for plants and animals as well - (for the first time owners/parents)
We ruin a lot of things by not raising things right. We humans need some MILK! XD
4887547 I understand that these things are considered normal, but the thing is, I can imagine a world where they are handled even better. And if something is better, than the other thing must not be as good.
4887555
Hmmm...true...you also have to balance things our sometimes for them to work...
4890387 I'm not good at balancing and compromises. I'm more of a black and white kind of guy. Things are either good or bad in my eyes.
4890435
Ah, OK. That makes sense. :) I'm usually the same, but certain things in life need a balance, which I usually find annoying LOL.
4890780 I equate balancing and compromises with complacency. It's having a problem and not fixing it. It's tolerating the problem and living with it.