> > Europeans: the two cultures had very different concepts of
> > land ownership, and a tribe that thought it was saying "yes,
> > you can share this piece of our hunting ground" would then
> > discover that the Europeans interpreted this as "from now
> > on this land is only for our use, because we have bought it
> > from the Indians."
>
> I think this is a very good point you have brought up. A more ideal
> society is one in which there can be no cultural distinctions.
> Culture leads to pride and pride leads to racism and racism leads to
> hatred and war. When someone says, "I am proud to be Afro-American"
> what are they really saying? "I wouldn't be proud if I weren't an
> Afro-American"? Can I, a white person, also say, "I am proud to be
> Afro-American"? No. I am aleinated by comments like that. Anything
> that says, "This is my culture" or "This is my heritage" or "This is
> my race" is divisive and hateful. Can I join in a Mexican Hat dance
> or would I be laughed off the stage because I'm not mexican? An ideal
> society would elminate any source of pride, including "I am proud to
> be an American". Rather it should be "I am proud to be a fellow human
> being".
??????
How about "A more ideal society is one that is strengthened by cultural
distinctions, instead of disrupted?"
Unless cleverly implemented, the description above would be in danger of
wiping out from lack of stress. [lack of evolutionary pressure?]
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/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
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/ Kenneth Boyd
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