Cultural Imperialism

To my mind cultural imperialism is at the very height of the arrogance that the so called 1^st World can impose onto other cultures and nations. Whenever I see a TV programs that focuses on 3^rd world conditions and elevating poor nations out of poverty I hear the same catch-cry; "empower them by providing food, suitable infrasctructure and educational (schools) and medical services.

Somehow the imposition of a western style education and access to medicine is a supposed panacea to all that ails their nation.

To assume such is ethnocentric to say the very least.

We need to remember that these people once, and most likely not too far into the past may have lived in a viable and sustainable culture that nourished them whilst providing all of their basic needs for shelter, spiritual meaning and for their physical and emotional health.

The world is littered by nations whose poor, suffering from a shattering of their mother culture have mistakenly imagined that the answer to their problems can be achieved by 'going to the major cities' and that by working there and/or gaining an education they will somehow achieve a superior and better life. Such misinformed and unfounded beliefs have created megalopolises where millions of people live in dire poverty with ill-health in appalling conditions in slum enclaves on the outer rims of these cities.

Why are we not, instead of chanting a culturally biased catch-cry of "education and medicine" to solve all their ills putting into place the means and supports and infracture that encourage, nurture and help them to return to and/or re-integrate their culturally sustainable roots?

I am yet to hear someone in the public media and academic domain espouse this as a viable solution.

After all why should such peoples be encouraged and indoctrinated to aspire to a materialisitic, monotheistic culture that as we speak is falling apart at its' very seams?

I think that instead of ethnocentrically worrying that the rest of the world is not 'like us' we should be prepared to examine the core of our beliefs and set them aside so as to help nations of this Earth return to their once viable and intact cultures. Such an approach would also be very useful for both the peoples of this planet and her environment.

I'm not saying that all 'progress' is bad; just that a lot of it surely is. Compare the carbon footprint of someone living in the so called 1^st world with that of someone in the 3^rd world. Our planet surely cannot take too much more 'progress'.

I just hope that some of the scourges of 1^st world culture such as addiction to computer games, suicidal tendencies, drug problems, addictions in general, lack of spiritual connection with our world and poverty (etal) should not be enforced upon our poorer cousins in other nations in the guise of cultural progression.

So let's get off our soap-box of cultural imperialism and start supporting the notion of sustainable and viable cultures that are capable of returning many of the world's poor back to some form of health, prosperity and happiness.

Keep posted.