Steve Peterson, Certainly, I admit that I am young and naive, I have no experience of what is called the "real world", with all its practicalities that I'm unaware of; I seem to live in my own imagination most of the time.
I really feel a lot of social patterns rising within me, when I meet new people, I really feel like getting to know their mindset more. I am very curious about the way people think because a lot can be learnt. Although, quite regrettably, my imprecise and immature skills of communicating in English often do get in the way. Another statement I can make confidently is that I have a fair idea about where most people are coming from (in the sense of their paradigms) if they are of Western background, and so I think you needn't put a gulf between me and you, because I've "been there and done that", even if I haven't been brought up in a Western environment. Of course, it is understandable to see a Westerner looking down upon Easterners, thinking they are strange or unintellectual or plain dumb; this is often the case only because of the cultural conditioning that goes on in the West (and, unfortunately, even in modern schools in the East). The West may come to the realisation that Eastern thought is superior in all senses, with the added fact that modern Western thought itself is only a degeneration, so to speak, of Indian thought. (ref. Will Durant, Arthur Schopenhauer, Romain Rolland, Neils Bohr, Erwin Schrodinger, Carl Sagan, Hermann Keyserling, Arnold J Toynbee, Queen Fredricka, Alfred B Ford, David Frawley, Arthur Holmes, Maurice Maeterlinck, Robert R C Zaehner, Huston Smith, Alan Watts, Leonard Bloomfield, Christian Fabre, and many others). However, it ought not to be perceived that way, because this whole divide is simply imagination. Once upon a time in history there was simply no divide between East and West, they were verily one, even though there were still races and colours. It was the religion of humanity, not of Christ or of Mohammed. Once it is realised that the entire divide between the East and the West is nothing but separatist fantasy, quite a major segment of our communication paradigms can be better. On a perhaps related note, I don't quite know how to address people around here -- uncle or dude? :) Akshay On 10/01/2008, Steve Peterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Akshay, Fernando, All, > > Fernando sent me a nice introduction off list that I plan to respond > to. Akshay responded to my question about whether it is good idea for > us to share our social context with one another... > > > I would say that when you begin reading a person's post on a public > > forum, > > you already do have a certain idea about the person, at least an > > expectation. For example, on coming to know that I am Hindu, you might > > relate me with one of your Hindu friends, and (at least > > subconsciously) > > expect me to behave a certain way (such as using strange flavors of > > English). > > I didn't know that you are Hindu, but you are right that we already > do know some things about one another's social context. > > > > About me, I am a Hindu teenager, living in India. I have been > > brought up in > > a moderately religious family, but I rebelled and became a skeptic > > atheist, > > but finally have come to embrace Hinduism, making it closer to my > > heart and > > mind than anything in the world. > > Thank you for sharing this. Much of this will help me understand what > you say in discussions on moq.org. My concern is that what you say > may be discounted based on the fact that you are so young. > > > > Knowing the social context of the person does help, but only if it > > is used > > morally. > > This is my concern. Can it be used morally? I wonder if it can. For > example, I already admitted that if a woman signs her name to a post, > I can't help wondering about her physical appearance. I am also > likely to treat her more gently in replies when I think she is being > stupid than if the post has a male name attached. > > > > Of course, I trust that on an intellectual forum like this, nobody > > is so baseless so as to insult or mock another on the basis of > > religion or > > nationality. > > > > I would hope so. > > > On the internet, it is difficult to tag a forum/list geographically or > > culturally, although here it happens to be that most people are > > Americans, I > > haven't seen many Europeans here. There's also the issue of > > privacy, most > > people don't like to share much about their personal lives, and > > this is > > especially a Western trait. > > I understand that some people won't want to share out of a desire for > privacy. In my case, I would like to share, but I'm not sure if it is > moral to do so. And I am very interested in other people's thoughts > on the issue. > > Thanks, > Steve > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
