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I read an article today which is only one example of cultural beliefs which are counter productive to human progress.
When access to education is not equitably distributed among all people ideas such as this persist:
Quote:
Officials said Thursday they were looking into reports that some 34 children aged 2 to 7 were buried in sand up to their chins -- with the consent of the parents -- in the belief that doing so during an eclipse would cure the children of their disabilities.
Do you believe that ignorance should persist in the world in the face of what science knows about disabilities.
This is only one example and many many more exist.
I read reports like this from time to time, and I'm told I need to be culturally sensitive, and I should accept how other people live and worship. But it is difficult for me to see this as simply a cultural difference, it seems like ignorance to me.
Moderator cut: Edited out reference to deleted (off-topic posts)
When someone in a developing nation takes a disabled child out of their home, buries them up to their necks in sand during an eclipse in the hope of curing them of their disability, am I as a citizen of the western world supposed to, nod my head and smile and "respect" their cultural beliefs, or look a them like ignorant savages who bay at the moon? Because I find it extremely difficult to respect a culture of people who do this to disabled children.
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 06-02-2010 at 05:17 PM..
I think a big part of why those parents did what they did was fear and guilt. If someone had told my mother (even though she's a very intelligent woman) that her daughter (who has a genetic disorder) could be cured by doing this I'm sure she'd at least consider it.
People do weird things and have a totally different mindset when their children are sick. The guilt of thinking it may have been their fault, the fear of raising a child that would not 'fit in' to society etc etc.
My question isn't about abortion nor is it about figs.
When someone in a developing nation takes a disabled child out of their home, buries them up to their necks in sand during an eclipse in the hope of curing them of their disability, am I as a citizen of the western world supposed to, nod my head and smile and "respect" their cultural beliefs, or look a them like ignorant savages who bay at the moon? Because I find it extremely difficult to respect a culture of people who do this to disabled children.
imho an ethnocentric viewpoint - american child prostitution , a multi million dollar child slavery, child prostitution and under age girl racket in this country well supported by its citizens, most of its managers aka pimps decendants of slaves themselves, i am sure horrid unthinkable behavior for the ethiopian.
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 06-02-2010 at 05:18 PM..
Reason: Edited out reference to deleted post
Things like that seem strange to us because we 'know better.' However, I'll bet that in a couple hundred years, people will shake their heads at many of the things our modern society does now. I don't really have the adverse reaction that you do (unless something criminal is going on) because it's just another manifestation of the 'progress line' that our species has. They are simply at a different point along that line than we are. I don't think it makes us any better than they are or any worse.
Also, not everyone in the world is interested in becoming just like we are (although we have mesmerized a number of cultures). And frankly, I don't blame them.
When someone in a developing nation takes a disabled child out of their home, buries them up to their necks in sand during an eclipse in the hope of curing them of their disability, am I as a citizen of the western world supposed to, nod my head and smile and "respect" their cultural beliefs, or look a them like ignorant savages who bay at the moon? Because I find it extremely difficult to respect a culture of people who do this to disabled children.
Those might not seem like the most logical examples with which to answer your question but they do make some sense. We may be a developed nation but we still have our own problems - many of them home grown. Western science is a boon that I'd be loathe to live without, but it isn't the only answer and it isn't always the right answer.
You have choices beyond nodding/smiling or condemning others as savages.
How about trying to understand their reasoning and practices? Sometimes when we learn "why" we can extract the wisdom in these strange ways. Afterall, there are many people who've survived without western medicine and have their own ways of healing through mysticism, ungents, laying on of hands, and such. In fact, even "developed" westerners assist modern science through prayer. Science does not invalidate the healing properties of positive thinking - to the contrary, many scientists support this approach.
How about making our science available to these other people IF they desire it? Forcing our ways on others is a failure - as noted by chicken pox, alchoholism, super bugs, and other ills that we've inflicted on other cultures over the years. Science can be both a boon and a bane.
Remember too that we learned much of our science from these "ignorant, savage" cultures - from leveraging what they already knew about native plants, body manipulation, and more. Plus, as Chris points out - our own science isn't done yet - who knows how it will evolve and what it will incorporate.
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 06-02-2010 at 05:19 PM..
Reason: Edited quoted text
Those might not seem like the most logical examples with which to answer your question but they do make some sense. We may be a developed nation but we still have our own problems - many of them home grown. Western science is a boon that I'd be loathe to live without, but it isn't the only answer and it isn't always the right answer.
You have choices beyond nodding/smiling or condemning others as savages.
How about trying to understand their reasoning and practices? Sometimes when we learn "why" we can extract the wisdom in these strange ways. Afterall, there are many people who've survived without western medicine and have their own ways of healing through mysticism, ungents, laying on of hands, and such. In fact, even "developed" westerners assist modern science through prayer. Science does not invalidate the healing properties of positive thinking - to the contrary, many scientists support this approach.
How about making our science available to these other people IF they desire it? Forcing our ways on others is a failure - as noted by chicken pox, alchoholism, super bugs, and other ills that we've inflicted on other cultures over the years. Science can be both a boon and a bane.
Remember too that we learned much of our science from these "ignorant, savage" cultures - from leveraging what they already knew about native plants, body manipulation, and more. Plus, as Chris points out - our own science isn't done yet - who knows how it will evolve and what it will incorporate.
They're burying children in sand up to their necks during an eclipse in the hope of curing them of their disability.
Yes we pray and sprinkle holy water and some believe this to be positive, very little comes of that either.
I don't practice any organized religion - and I don't condemn those who do, but I have a hard time understanding a culture that worships sun/moon phenomena in search of cures for the disabled.
Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plow parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday.
And I guess when it works, it reinforces the myth to continue. When it doesn't work they try try again.
lI invite you to look back at the Reverend Mister Oral Roberts, who placed his hands on people suffering from wide ranging afflictions, and by so doing, cured nobody, but but did it on TV convincingly enough to have raked in enough cash to build a great university. He might as well have buried them up their chins in sand.
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Here's another doozy...
