I do agree with Anthropologist Ruth Benedict when she says that we are all creatures of our cultures and that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture. From the day each of us are born we are being taught a specific culture by our families. The different things that our parents teach us is a direct reflection of the morals and values from the culture that they identify with. This continues on as we grow up. Some cultures require their people to marry someone who shares the same culture and they are very strict about it. I have a good friend who was raised as a Jehovahs Witness. She was explaining to me all of the various things that she has experienced being raised that way. People who are raised in this type of culture don't get to experience anything outside of their culture without being judged and sometimes even banned from the culture.
I think that we can break through the limits of culture by going out and experiencing other cultures besides our own without judgment. Not judging others cultures is very hard when you are raised a certain way but you have to keep an open mind. This will help people gain knowledge about people and their culture that they don't understand.
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I agree with what you are saying commgirl, Anthropologist Ruth is right when she says that we are all creatures and that our habits, believes and impossibilities are shaped by what our culture is. I liked how you talked about your friend and how she said "people who are raised in this type of culture don't get to experience anything outside of their culture without being judged and even banned from the culture." Having a personal experience like that is pretty special and really brings a different perspective to it and even for me what Ruth said means so much more now hearing your friend’s story. Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post. I remember when I was younger I had a frined who was a Jehova witness and he said he wasn't allowed to drink soda. That was a strange thing for me.
ReplyDeleteIn the second part of your post you talked about traveling to different places and really experiencing the cultures in different places. I think that this is one of the only ways to escape what has become the American culture. And I don’t think that just traveling to another place for a week will do the trick either, I think that you have to immerse yourself in their culture and learn what they know and eat what they eat. It is pretty exciting to think about something like that and just starting a new life for ourselves. I hope one day I am lucky enough.
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