Maintain the Culture Diversity or not?

Question

Some people think that it is not nessecary to maintain the culture diversity. They consider it
useless, and think that it is the trend to let it extinct. Those culture on the edge needn't be protected. Whereas, I think that we should maintain the culture diversity. Who is right?
I am looking forward to your opinion.

Maj · Accepted Answer

I totally agree with you. Cheers!

Timbo · Answer

Hi Johnnyzou,

You have brought up an issue that is related to the current 'Globalisation' and its consequences. As nations rush to be part of the WTO, the cultural diversity is usually one of the first things to suffer, in the rush to conform. What are they conforming to? It is to the will of the most powerful. The cycle continues...

Those who have the opinion that cultural diversity should not be maintained, are most likely those who have never traveled to another country or at least within their own country. There are a few large nations, 1 in particular at the moment whom currently occupy Iraq, whom seem to think that there is no other culture other than their own. This is a direct result from the lack of education to the masses. To think that many in their country don't even know where Canada is...

Many who have traveled for the sake of traveling, not for business, usually are the ones who can see the benefits of keeping different cultures alive. I for one, like many others, enjoy to travel to different countries, and if possible, to experience the real life of the people. This doesn't mean staying in the Holiday Inn or Sheraton and going to MacDonald’s for lunch, rather to go the villages and back roads and to 'smell' the country.

I hope that the cultural diversity that we see remains, it would be such a shame to see the same culture no matter where we went on the earth. Unfortunately, the almighty dollar is dictating too much already, and as nations seek to increase their wealth, compromises must be made, and this is the first to go.

Tim

Timbo · Answer

Hi Johnnyzou,

You have brought up an issue that is related to the current 'Globalisation' and its consequences. As nations rush to be part of the WTO, the cultural diversity is usually one of the first things to suffer, in the rush to conform. What are they conforming to? It is to the will of the most powerful. The cycle continues...

Those who have the opinion that cultural diversity should not be maintained, are most likely those who have never traveled to another country or at least within their own country. There are a few large nations, 1 in particular at the moment whom currently occupying Iraq, whom seem to think that there is no other culture other than their own. This is a direct result from the lack of education to the masses. To think that many in their country don't even know where Canada is...

Many who have traveled for the sake of traveling, not for business, usually are the ones who can see the benefits of keeping different cultures alive. I for one, like many others, enjoy to travel to different countries, and if possible, to experience the real life of the people. This doesn't mean staying in the Holiday Inn or Sheraton and going to MacDonald’s for lunch, rather to go the villages and back roads and to 'smell' the country.

I hope that the cultural diversity that we see remains, it would be such a shame to see the same culture no matter where we went on the earth. Unfortunately, the almighty dollar is dictating too much already, and as nations seek to increase their wealth, compromises must be made, and this is the first to go.

Tim

Johnnyzou · Answer

Thanks for your opinion about cultural diversity. Unfortunately, I have a friend who has been to lots of different country, including Algeria, UAE, India, Sri Lanka, etc. He disagrees with my idea. He considers those civilizations' disappearance as the historical wave rushing to the shore. It's no doubt that the trend is on the contary towards culture diversity. He says that it's a great idea to let those cultures extinct and put those into the museum.
What do you think about that?
Why shall we maintain the culture diversity, are there any proof for that? I'm a little bit bewildered.

Guest · Answer

yes!!

Minnaloushe-Q · Answer

Globalization can hit cultures pretty bad, but we also have to consider that it is also bring cultures, that are otherwise unreachable to our door steps. Today, as a product of golobalization, most of us can walk down the street to a Indian take-away shop. And i also consider globalization as not just multinational corporations and the WTO or the IMF, but everything else around us. Look at the label on your clothing, if you live in a westen country it probably says Made in China or Indonesia etc. This is globalization, it will bring the good and bad....

Nestor · Answer

I believe that the essence of a culture remains the same despite the Levi's and the Coke (and the Siemens refrigerator, and the Michelin tires, and the Nokia phone, and the Toyota, and the Indian software, just to be fair).  Japanese, Americans, and Europeans use the same consumer products and have the same governmental and economic institutions.  Try to tell me that the three aren't radically different in important, "cultural" ways; we neither think nor act alike.  How about the South Koreans and the Malaysians?  They're just alike, right?  I doubt it.

Maj · Answer

Wouldn't you say we are globalized? If you had attended that conference you would have learned something about this. You could always learn something about the EEC in forthcoming one. What about currency? Why is it not globalized? Wouldn't it be better for everybody?I wouldn't like to hear any comments made by any of the British Speakers.

Miriam · Answer

I fully agree with Nestor. What you wear may be part of your culture, but your culture is deninitely not what you wear. Hopefully, people can understand that there's something deeper in one's culture.
Globalisation doesn't mean the disappearance of different cultures. It is indeed one of the consequences of imperialism (in any of its forms), it is also the result of various attempts on the part of the imperialist countries to impose themselves economically, politically and culturally on on the 'dominated'. And it has worked, to a certain extent. It IS working. But everything has a limit. After all, how many 'Gandhis' could the UK educate the 'western way'? (No, I don't have anything against the British, this is only an example).

I'm sure some people will think I'm starting to sound like a broken record because I'm about to bring my own country into the picture... again!! ~laughs~ But then, I have 'first-hand' information about Argentina only. For ages now, we have been one of America's trash cans; we buy anything the Americans want to dispose of because it's either no longer working or no longer in fashion. So we have what some people in my country proudly call 'the advances of technology', such as the weapons our boys took to Malvinas in 1982 (of course, they didn't work right!). Needless to say, we pay for such things as if they were brand new.
And the 'developed' countries get our beef, our wheat, and even the brains od our scientists.

All that looks awful from this end. Yet, we haven't lost our culture, the essence of our culture. We haven't lost our identity. I cannot speak for every Argentinian, but many of us still know who and what we are. Our thoughts, ideas, beliefs, feelings, customs cannot be bought and sold. The days when the Spaniards came to these lands and gave the aborigines coloured glass in exchange for riches are over... hopefully.

The day Big Brother (and I mean Orwell's Big Brother, the really scary one, not these feeble attempts we see daily) takes over, perhaps we'll all be brainwashed and we'll happily say 2+2=5. However, until that day comes ~~if it comes at all~~ we still are what we are. Just as our personality makes each of us unique, and different from everyone else, so does our culture.
You may be white, black, yellow... or polka-dotted!! You may wear pants or a long tunic. You may worship one ***, a thousand, or no gods at all. You may speak French, Spanish, Chinese or Swahili. And it's all fine, you don't owe anyone an explanation ~~let alone an apology~~ for that.

Let's be careful. We criticise cultural differences today, we might end up praising eugenics tomorrow! And, since someone already invented that gross fallacy of Social Darwinism, we'd have to look for a better excuse. But it would be a waste of time; certain things are inexcusable.

The day you let anyone rob you of your very essence, you become... nothing whatsoever.

IMHO

Miriam, getting carried away, as usual ~bats eyelashes~

Nestor · Answer

Maj--
Yes, I believe we are globalized. We've been globalizing for as long as there has been civilization, and technology quickens the pace.

Maintain the Culture Diversity or not?

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