Let's talk about culture (:

[iironiic]

A close friend of mine from Europe sent me this video:

It had me thinking about the cultural differences of many people in the world. What is more distinguishing in this video is that the individual who made this video (his name is Matt) branched out of his own country to be involved in many other traditions and more importantly, formed ties with people globally.

What is your opinion of this video? How important is tradition when it comes to defining one self? What traditions (if you have any) do you participate in at home? Does having different cultural values make the world an interesting place to live in? Feel free to discuss about culture and its overall value here.

[smartdude1212]

This video is incredible, and as an aspiring traveller, I am overwhelmingly envious. It's precisely why I watch The Amazing Race: I get to see locations around the world, their associated cultures, and learn new things all the time. He went to Maldives? COME ON! Definitely jealous about that one.

Anyhow, I find culture and tradition to be important for self-definition. The ability to represent oneself with assurance and faith enhances the confidence like no other, so it is also disheartening to hear about people who fear being honest to the world because of the subsequent backlash from other cultures or from within that culture.

I know of some people who dislike religious tradition within their culture and so choose not to follow it, which can be much more difficult due to just familial bonds. In a sense they're not letting their culture define them, but, for example, if a Muslim woman chooses not to wear a hijab, she still has the ability to define herself through other cultural practices or by starting her own traditions within her family. I find religion to be absolutely ridiculous in the first place, but I can respect those who adhere to it. When it reaches the point where everyone within a culture is expected to follow a certain religion to the letter or face retribution otherwise, that's about where I draw the line. So, to see others pull away from the more religious aspect and shape their own identity like this... well, I imagine, and hope, that it would be empowering.

But those different cultural values are what make me want to explore the world. If everybody practised the same values everyday, I would then want to explore the world and experience different climates and see some interesting geographical locations. That would still be fun, but it's the people that enhance that experience for me. My trip to Greece was an absolute highlight back in July of 2010 and I tried to absorb as much of the culture as possible (I'm sitting here eating a lamb pita and Greek salad smothered in feta and tzatziki sauce in fact, mmmm).

In short, I enjoy culture and tradition, but love it even more when it's flexible with its "rules" and stuff. *nod*

[Emanresu13]

Oh boy. This is CT, so I have to be all "proper" and such. Disclaimer right off the bat, most everything I say will be as if it were pure fact, but I do know the difference between what is my opinion and what is not. Please do not take offense.

Tradition and culture is arbitrary. If you like it, fine. If not, fine. As long as it doesn't cause harm to people, there isn't anything wrong with it.

That said, it does make the world more interesting, merely due to variety and unfamiliarity. Acquiring new information/knowledge is always interesting, and differing traditions/cultures allow for that.

As far as defining oneself, it can only influence as much as one allows it. Whether that be a large or tiny amount, or anything in between. I see little value in it, myself. I am who I want to be, and I only change who I am when it suits me. I do try and respect others' boundaries/wishes, however.

[iironiic]

Originally Posted by smartdude1212

This video is incredible, and as an aspiring traveller, I am overwhelmingly envious. It's precisely why I watch The Amazing Race: I get to see locations around the world, their associated cultures, and learn new things all the time. He went to Maldives? COME ON! Definitely jealous about that one.

I am extremely jealous as well! In fact, because my family is extremely poor, traveling is strictly limited due to finances. So really, I envy him for all of the places that he has gone to!

Anyhow, I find culture and tradition to be important for self-definition. The ability to represent oneself with assurance and faith enhances the confidence like no other, so it is also disheartening to hear about people who fear being honest to the world because of the subsequent backlash from other cultures or from within that culture.

I know of some people who dislike religious tradition within their culture and so choose not to follow it, which can be much more difficult due to just familial bonds. In a sense they're not letting their culture define them, but, for example, if a Muslim woman chooses not to wear a hijab, she still has the ability to define herself through other cultural practices or by starting her own traditions within her family. I find religion to be absolutely ridiculous in the first place, but I can respect those who adhere to it. When it reaches the point where everyone within a culture is expected to follow a certain religion to the letter or face retribution otherwise, that's about where I draw the line. So, to see others pull away from the more religious aspect and shape their own identity like this... well, I imagine, and hope, that it would be empowering.

But those different cultural values are what make me want to explore the world. If everybody practised the same values everyday, I would then want to explore the world and experience different climates and see some interesting geographical locations. That would still be fun, but it's the people that enhance that experience for me. My trip to Greece was an absolute highlight back in July of 2010 and I tried to absorb as much of the culture as possible (I'm sitting here eating a lamb pita and Greek salad smothered in feta and tzatziki sauce in fact, mmmm).

In short, I enjoy culture and tradition, but love it even more when it's flexible with its "rules" and stuff. *nod*

I agree. I think it is important to understand and respect different cultures to better understand ourselves as human beings. By this, I literally mean going into the mother country and actually experience the lifestyle they live in, as this is probably the best way to experience culture. Being open to how other people live and respecting that is what makes humanity worth valuing.

This is essentially the reason why I want to explore the world. I really do wish to understand various cultures for inspiration and more importantly, humanity's worth.

To share a bit of culture with you, with my mom, I just performed a Chinese religious act involving incense sticks and praying. I think it is centered around my mom's religious beliefs (which I am unsure what exactly it is), but being able to participate in it made me respect what she believes and value them as a major defining characteristic of herself as a person.

[Cavernio]

"What is your opinion of this video?"
Kind of sad that so many places in the world where he visited, he simply danced something that we'd see in North America. Especially so because I know that traditional dances from many of those places don't even look like they've influenced the dancing. (Yes there are plenty of places where he is dancing traditional dances too.) It makes me think about globalization and how it's only the popular things that will be passed down to new generations. Also makes me think about how there is actually global popularity of things due to nearly limitless communication. It upsets me and makes me wonder about how things are made popular. If I were more of a go-getter I'd look up books and studies to read theories about popularity.

Videos that try to portray different cultures always seem to make me think about how similar they are rather than different, this one is no different. I'd prefer that they made me think about how diverse everyone is :-/

"As far as defining oneself, it can only influence as much as one allows it. Whether that be a large or tiny amount, or anything in between. I see little value in it, myself. I am who I want to be, and I only change who I am when it suits me."
Although I'm not sure if this is really addressing the topic as defined, I have to say I disagree strongly with the majority of this statement. Culture has a huge influence over what people do and what they are. From birth you are defined by society. Most of us are born into either a nuclear family or what someone desired to be a nuclear family. A mother figure, a father figure, maybe siblings. But it could easily be the culture that children are born into a much larger social group because polygamy might be a thing. Even in north america, the only real practicing polygamists are with 1 man and multiple women.
From then we have education. Rarely will children be raised to do a specific job or task anymore. Even if you are homeschooled you are still schooled and you still learn all the basic subjects. You might deviate some, but it's not acceptable for you to, say, not learn math.
And only now in this little timeline, as you approach adulthood (which society defines as about 5 years after puberty), do you even really make your own decisions about what to do in life. And your decisions are limited to 'how can I make enough money/live off of someone else, to live'.
And let's not forget that any opportunities you have outside of regular work or a regular family are only granted to you because of the countries we live in. The very fact that you say that your culture doesn't define you is, in fact, a characteristic of American culture.
Even so, the vast majority of the time when we say 'I can do anything I want to', it's still within the confines of society's rules. Most people don't consider something like starting or joining commune that has its own rules or culture even as a thing, much less the fact that if it were to actually become a thing, there'd be some sort of oppression from the US government. Heck, the very definition of a country is culturally based, the idea of passports, where borders are drawn. etc. Capitalism is a culture too :-p
The thing that I don't disagree with what you said is that you see little value in it. I could see that, although I'm not certain you'd necessarily say the same thing upon thinking about the vastness of culture/society.

Back to the OP, I definitely think that cultural differences make the world an interesting place to live in. I love hearing about different cultures and learning about them, real or fake. Science fiction and fantasy are genres I like to read now, as an adult, because of the different worlds and cultures people can imagine. I loved reading Gone With The Wind not because it's this great, tragic love story, but because it so perfectly described a culture that actually existed by portraying it through the eyes of a woman who lived through a huge cultural change. It was this huge eye-opener to me too though, unexpected. (I highly recommend the book)

IRL cultural values I guess I don't find as interesting as passe or imagined ones, not too clear on why. Well, maybe I am clear on why but haven't connected some loose thoughts in my head yet. Cultures cause confict and wars. Culture, by very virtue of its defining power, is actually pretty oppressive. That I live in a relatively free culture makes this very apparent when I look at other cultures. Unless I want to actively try and change a culture, I'd rather not think about those things.

I do think traditions and rituals are important though. This is something I've actually thought a lot about lately. Things like religious ceremonies (or even just ritual for the sake of ritual) and even more life-defining things like marriage have a purpose, even if that purpose is just to collect people together to celebrate or think about a common thing. I think I like ritualism a lot, even and maybe especially while recognizing that its purpose might just be itself. Note that while I think monogamy and nuclear families serve a purpose in our culture, marriage itself is showing to be quite unnecessary as a symbol for all that these days. Even while I still don't think I agree with monogamy and nuclear families, I've grown to the idea and symbology of marriage. And I don't think that's just because I'm now engaged, although that has something to do with it.

I am not practicing any religion right now, largely because religions believe in things that don't exist/didn't happen. And all the non-God religions seem hopelessly out of date. They're philosophical, but they haven't changed in thousands of years while our understanding of the world has.

[iironiic]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

The very fact that you say that your culture doesn't define you is, in fact, a characteristic of American culture.

The thing that I don't disagree with what you said is that you see little value in it. I could see that, although I'm not certain you'd necessarily say the same thing upon thinking about the vastness of culture/society.

I agree with the bolded statement. America has this recurring idea to mesh all variety of cultures into one country. This is where the reference of "melting pot" comes into play. I suppose there are many pros and cons associated with this.

Do you think that the reason why you agree with the fact that there is little value in culture is based on the fact that you are raised in the American culture? Being Chinese, I find culture to be one major factor that defines me as a person, and therefore I see a lot of value behind my Chinese culture. I have also been immersed in the American culture since I was born and raised here in New York, but comparing between the two, I value my Chinese culture much more than the American mainly because the Chinese culture is more prominent and more inspirational to me.

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Videos that try to portray different cultures always seem to make me think about how similar they are rather than different, this one is no different. I'd prefer that they made me think about how diverse everyone is :-/

Many people differentiate others based on culture alone. I think because I put so much value into culture, I see people from Africa to be different than people from Asia, etc. Culture tends to separate a group of people from another group of people, just like religion or politics. However, it clearly doesn't have to be that way because as shown in the video, regardless of where we are, who we are, and how we're raised, we are essentially no different than anyone else in the world. This is why I find the video truly inspirational and beautiful.

[Emanresu13]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

"As far as defining oneself, it can only influence as much as one allows it. Whether that be a large or tiny amount, or anything in between. I see little value in it, myself. I am who I want to be, and I only change who I am when it suits me."
Although I'm not sure if this is really addressing the topic as defined, I have to say I disagree strongly with the majority of this statement.

Yeah, it wasn't exactly the most on topic statement.

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Culture has a huge influence over what people do and what they are. From birth you are defined by society. Even if you are homeschooled you are still schooled and you still learn all the basic subjects. You might deviate some, but it's not acceptable for you to, say, not learn math.

I completely stopped caring about school and grades when I was ten.*

Originally Posted by Cavernio

And your decisions are limited to 'how can I make enough money/live off of someone else, to live'. And let's not forget that any opportunities you have outside of regular work or a regular family are only granted to you because of the countries we live in.

Lucky I'm in a first world country, sure.*

Originally Posted by Cavernio

The very fact that you say that your culture doesn't define you is, in fact, a characteristic of American culture.

True enough. Many Americans like to tout this. Many are lying to themselves, too.

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Even so, the vast majority of the time when we say 'I can do anything I want to', it's still within the confines of society's rules.

You may not believe me, but I actually do anything I want to. (Within financial constraints, not society's rules.)

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Heck, the very definition of a country is culturally based, the idea of passports, where borders are drawn. etc. Capitalism is a culture too :-p

I didn't choose the borders or the economic system.*

Originally Posted by Cavernio

The thing that I don't disagree with what you said is that you see little value in it. I could see that, although I'm not certain you'd necessarily say the same thing upon thinking about the vastness of culture/society.

I dislike hivemind, which is what culture can sometimes be.

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Note that while I think monogamy and nuclear families serve a purpose in our culture, marriage itself is showing to be quite unnecessary as a symbol for all that these days. Even while I still don't think I agree with monogamy and nuclear families, I've grown to the idea and symbology of marriage. And I don't think that's just because I'm now engaged, although that has something to do with it.

I used to think marriage had a purpose. I wish you the best.


*Most of what you stated proves that culture does influence my life. I won't argue with that. Culture does not influence my person, though. I shook loose those shackles some time ago.

[Cavernio]

I meant that I don't disagree with emanu saying that for himself, culture is valueless, not that I think that way as well.

I have a love hate relationship with culture in that I don't like having to be defined by it or not being able to choose what culture I live in, but from a third person vantage it can be fascinating and necessary.

The couple of good friends I've had who are second generation chinese canadian seemed to think they way you do about your cultural heritage. (One I don't talk to anymore, the other I rarely talk to since she's across the continent from me now.) It actually kind of bothers me because they've adopted chinese culture as their own so strongly such that they almost think it's inherit in anyone of chinese decent, which is just not true. For instance, one of them once said they disapproved of the idea of a white canadian family adopting an asian kid and explained it as bad for the kid because they'll feel a dischord within themselves, or something, at not being a part of their native culture. Like they'll never know their true heritage. But the only reason they'd ever care about not knowing their true heritage is because other chinese canadians may, based on their appearance, think they're chinese. So yeah I can see it as a problem, but no, it's not a problem unless someone like my friend chooses to make it a problem. It's racism.