HowDidIGetPrem
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I know the title sounds wrong, so let me give a bit of context and explain myself. For the longest, I have never truly fitted in with my African-American family. Like, I don't ACTUALLY speak with my uncles, mother, grandparents, cousins, etc. This has been the case LONG before I had even hit the age of 10. My talks with them stop at needs such as college, work, and food. The only family I truly speak with are my siblings and it's about general interest things such as anime and games. And you know what? I've spent vastly more time online(NB/Reddit/etc) talking about such topics than I have with my actual family.
The result of this is that, while I understand them very well, I'm culturally removed from them. They have the understanding that I probably won't know the hottest rap single, don't watch basketball/football, may not know ALL of the slang they sling, and won't know many of their trending celebrities. But my understanding of them is more bent. It goes beyond interests. A person may think that being so removed would feel depressing, but it doesn't. What feels depressing is seeing what I COULD have been if I were closer to them. Like I said, this goes beyond interests.
Culture is a package deal and much of it is just baggage.
Their racism, sexism, homophobia, mentality, and so on are part of the deal too. They and, by extrapolation, you are likely to be blind to the downsides of your cultures. To prove how heavily these things correlate just look into specific interests and notice the crowds they attract. Gun boards are typically conservative and may predominantly feature news articles of black thugs doing this and that, rap boards are typically center-left~ish and may predominantly feature news articles of this black and that black being wronged, and so on this pattern repeats with a multitude of interests. From their eyes, they're being wronged by the other. From my eyes, they're BOTH fighting real-life boogeymen AND are simultaneously creating more boogeymen in the process. This isn't to say they don't have valid concerns, but that they're super polarized and unnecessarily so. Each culture looks at one another and sees the boogeymen, but not the millions of regular people. Oftentimes, many of these boogeymen aren't even from the opposing culture but a shared enemy.
Now I want to zoom back out to wrap this up. Those are just interests and culture is also tradition, yes? When I say culture should be destroyed, I don't mean that I want all of these interests and traditions to be wiped. I mean that I DON'T want these things to be exclusive. In other words, I'd prefer if cultures expanded and were more inclusive. Being born black, you'd expect me to have a taste for hip-hop, and you'd expect me to like hunting or baseball if I were born white in America. The point that this makes clear is there was never a REAL option for you to branch out and connect with the other cultures, and by extension, races. To destroy cultures is to destroy the barriers and let those interests and traditions reach you AND your children. Let yourself and child do things BEYOND what you were raised with. They won't be isolated, but simply surrounded by a more varied environment. Their shared identity shouldn't be culture, but their strong belief in human rights.
A followup question to this is that some people hold dear to traditions that many find reprehensible, so should we just tolerate that? To that, my answer is no. No tradition should be valued above human or animal rights and that's that. Thoughts?
The result of this is that, while I understand them very well, I'm culturally removed from them. They have the understanding that I probably won't know the hottest rap single, don't watch basketball/football, may not know ALL of the slang they sling, and won't know many of their trending celebrities. But my understanding of them is more bent. It goes beyond interests. A person may think that being so removed would feel depressing, but it doesn't. What feels depressing is seeing what I COULD have been if I were closer to them. Like I said, this goes beyond interests.
Culture is a package deal and much of it is just baggage.
Their racism, sexism, homophobia, mentality, and so on are part of the deal too. They and, by extrapolation, you are likely to be blind to the downsides of your cultures. To prove how heavily these things correlate just look into specific interests and notice the crowds they attract. Gun boards are typically conservative and may predominantly feature news articles of black thugs doing this and that, rap boards are typically center-left~ish and may predominantly feature news articles of this black and that black being wronged, and so on this pattern repeats with a multitude of interests. From their eyes, they're being wronged by the other. From my eyes, they're BOTH fighting real-life boogeymen AND are simultaneously creating more boogeymen in the process. This isn't to say they don't have valid concerns, but that they're super polarized and unnecessarily so. Each culture looks at one another and sees the boogeymen, but not the millions of regular people. Oftentimes, many of these boogeymen aren't even from the opposing culture but a shared enemy.
Now I want to zoom back out to wrap this up. Those are just interests and culture is also tradition, yes? When I say culture should be destroyed, I don't mean that I want all of these interests and traditions to be wiped. I mean that I DON'T want these things to be exclusive. In other words, I'd prefer if cultures expanded and were more inclusive. Being born black, you'd expect me to have a taste for hip-hop, and you'd expect me to like hunting or baseball if I were born white in America. The point that this makes clear is there was never a REAL option for you to branch out and connect with the other cultures, and by extension, races. To destroy cultures is to destroy the barriers and let those interests and traditions reach you AND your children. Let yourself and child do things BEYOND what you were raised with. They won't be isolated, but simply surrounded by a more varied environment. Their shared identity shouldn't be culture, but their strong belief in human rights.
A followup question to this is that some people hold dear to traditions that many find reprehensible, so should we just tolerate that? To that, my answer is no. No tradition should be valued above human or animal rights and that's that. Thoughts?
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