> I have no respect for oppressive Muslim
> > fundamentalists or tribalists that perform female genital
> > mutilation, and I have no respect for the cultures that engender
> > such behavior. As Nadia points out, respect for the purely
> > aesthetic traditions of a culture is one thing -- one can't condemn
> > people for preferring one set of culturally pervasive tonalities in
> > music over another, for instance. But a cultural preference for
> > brutality is quite another thing.
>
> This is right, but only because I think so. ;)
>
> -Dan
>
Actually no, it't not because we think so, it's because we feel so. You are
more tuned in to empathy than their torturers, who feel GOOD while they do
it. For whatever justification. Hey - And the victims most likely agree with
you, but power has gotten out so of their hand until they have no voice. No
voice.. and no choice...
Just saying our culture values choice ignoress the CONTEXT - our hard earned
other cultural value: The vast importance in our culture has placed on free
education. Oh. And separation of church and state, and a few basic
constitutional rights we take so for granted.
With lots of information to choose from, people will make much better
choices. With little or none, they will not even perceive that they have any.
There is much literature and art devoted to this topic.
(IMO To say our culture values choice is only referring to a certain segment
of economic means and knowledge, BTW)
Terms liek post-modernism and modernism are masturbations. Getting out at
educating people is more productive.
The "Information wants to be free" quote has little to do with bandwidth
forgery of rock music. What it really meant back in the day was that
censorship and forced enslavery of wills was *never* going to happen because
of underground movements and the free press: thru freedom of speech and self
education. The Internet was seen as a gateway to untold resources of
variables. Including cultural ones.
Yet still the R.O.W. (rest of th world) is not hoooked in.
Now I am beginning to see it as a place for arm-chair psychology and couch
philosophy.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:35:25 MDT