3 May 2018 Can We Change A Culture?

Can We Change A Culture?

One of the challenges we have as a country is we always think our way of life is best.  We try to get other countries to change.  The question is, is ours the best?  Obviously I would say yes because I have had every opportunity this country has to offer. Also, I believe the tenants our country was founded on are the best for a society.  How can you disagree with freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of press?  Not specifically stated but a principle undercurrent to our way of life is free will. That is, one can pursue a life of ones choosing vice being dictated by the government or society.  There may be strong family traditions that impact an individual, but for the most part there are not non-family pressures to doing something you don’t want.

Another key part of our culture is capitalism. This is the foundation of business. Is may not be pure capitalism, but it closer than most.  This along with our rights we bundle up and call the “American way of life.” 

In trying to impose the culture on other countries, we do not have a great record.  There are countries whose traditions and culture are centuries older than the US. That is way it has been so hard to make changes in the Middle East.  Ingrained attitudes are tough to sway.  Do we even have a right to try to change it?

India has a caste system that in embedded in the society. There has been small progress but it still is pervasive.  The people is the upper parts of the system are happy with it.  Of course they would be.  They get the benefit.  But what about the people of the bottom?  Do they really want to stay on the bottom?  Should a child be obligated to stay in a caste that his/her parents lived under?  I could not support that.

I think societies that do not have the freedoms that we do will slowing change over the next two decades.  As more and more young people travel and live in other cultures, the more pressure they will impose to make changes in their countries.  

I remember reading an article in the early 1990’s that said the break-up of the Soviet Union could in part be attributed to MTV.  The youth there were seeing how life was in the US and they started to question their government who had lied to them for decades about how great the Soviet system was.  

I don’t think the US government needs to try to force the American way on any country.  The increased opportunity to travel and see other places will bring the change about. It won’t be in a year or two but I see India making great changes in its society as well as China.

Our society has issues, major ones, there is no disputing that.  However, the challenges must not be too bad because millions try to move here every year.  The same can’t be said for countries that do not have cultures similar to ours.