Saturday 30 January 2010

Is the west really a destroyer of cultures?

Every now and then, us westerners (and white guys in particular) get accused of destroying an "ancient and noble" culture. Coca-Cola seems to be the favoured weapon of choice.

But stop and think for a minute. Think about what has happened to western cultures over the last 20, 50 and 100 years.

British culture appears to have been destroyed since Blair came to power - that was not that long ago.

The 1960s and 1970s supposedly saw huge seismic shifts in western cultures - hippies, the sexual revolution, the green movement and so on. Australia's culture looks nothing like it did in say 1959.

My grandfather, who was born in the late 1800s, would not recognise Australian culture today, and I doubt we would fit easily into the culture of his time.

In short, cultures are changing and evolving all the time. They are undergoing a process of creative destruction.

What I find hilarious is that the people that complain about the destruction of the culture of a tribe of remote African pygmies are the same that demand that we must change our own culture (new flag, new national anthem, new head of state, worship multi-culturalism, erase the influence of the church, stamp out bogans etc etc). Even better, they are the first that demand that we stamp out practices in other countries such as female genital mutilation, which are cultural practices.

"Progressives" in other words are far and away the worst culprits when it comes to destroying cultures.

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