thanks jed. i wasnt going to step in as ive just had this conversation with several friends, and liken it to bashing my head in with a lead brick repeatedly.
On 6/27/05, Jed Rothwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > thomas malloy wrote: > > >That area of agreement a leftist notion called cultural relativism (the > >idea that all cultures are all equally good) which is leading to cultural > >suicide. > > That definition of cultural relativity is completely wrong, misleading and > childish. The term has nothing to do with whether cultures are good or bad. > It means: "Studying another culture from its point of view without imposing > our own cultural views." It is an essential skill in fields such as > anthropology, history and military intelligence. You cannot "know your > enemy" unless you learn to think like him. I know a great deal about this, > because the people who taught me Japanese history, anthropology and > language were all WWII vets (mostly on the U.S. side, plus one or two from > the Imperial Japanese Army). If the U.S. experts had not been cultural > relativists, several hundred thousand more people on both sides would have > been killed. I am quite sure those experts did not consider the 1930s > militarist Japanese culture "equally good" as the previous Japanese culture > it usurped, or as the U.S. and Chinese culture it was determined to > destroy. However, they (and I) understood that culture quite well in its > own context, according to its own internal rules and logic, which are every > bit as comprehensive and functional as the rules in any other society. The > Japanese were not merely pretending they had a different set of values -- > they actually did, although most U.S. experts did not believe it until > after Pearl Harbor. That explains, for example, why Japan attacked a > country with 40 times their GNP that was capable of building 20 times more > aircraft carriers than they could, and why they resorted to mass suicide > attacks. The U.S. would never do that! I would not call that "good" but it > is explicable. > > If present day U.S. military intelligence agencies and policy makers do not > embrace cultural relativism in their efforts to deal with Mid-Eastern > cultures and terrorism, the war is as good as lost. To see what I mean, > read the book "Imperial Hubris," written the top CIA terrorism expert. You > cannot ask for a more authoritative view. > > People should not casually misuse technical words from important academic > fields, or invent new meanings, or politicize academic subjects. They > should not presume they know more than the experts. That's the whole > trouble with cold fusion -- it isn't that experts are wrong; the problems > are caused by know-it-all idiots at the APS who jump to conclusions. > "Cultural relativity" is a vital concept. > > In 1979, Senator Proxmire attacked a grant given to an anthropologist who > had spent ~$50,000 on a study of mid-eastern and Himalayan religion. She > demonstrated that religious practices were strengthening and being > invigorated in response to exposure to Western civilization, Hollywood, and > other U.S. influences. She discussed the likelihood of a backlash. Proxmire > said the U.S. government has no business spending money investigating the > religious beliefs of obscure people 10,000 miles away in countries we have > nothing to do with. A few months later, the Iranian Revolution erupted. It > destroyed U.S. policy in the Mideast, destroyed the Carter presidency, cost > us billions of dollars, and set in motion the instability and terrorism we > face today. It was caused, in large part, by a religious backlash against > Western influence. The subject of that obscure academic thesis turned out > to be vital to U.S. foreign policy for the next 30 years, and our ignorance > of that subject area has cost us several thousand lives and at least $500 > billion so far. I believe Proxmire later had the good grace to apologize to > the anthropologist, but as far as I can tell, present day political leaders > still know nothing about other cultures, and nothing about anthropology, > and their they are still making drastic errors that any undergrad would > warn against. > > - Jed > > > -- "Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write" Voltaire
