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Culture Wars

Entry 2089, on 2020-11-18 at 13:21:56 (Rating 4, Politics)

A lot of the more controversial subjects I have been debating recently seem to get back to a clash of cultures. Of course, conflict between cultures is nothing new, but it seems to me that these clashes have become more extreme in recent years. And the other phenomenon which has become obvious is the reversal of what many would assume is the default form these clashes usually take.

What I mean is that it is now "conventional" Western culture which is under attack from all sides, and other "alternative" cultures are given special privileges. This could be seen as a reversal of what has happened in the past, although I think this point is overdone and that genuine bias against non-Western cultures has been negligible in recent decades, although there is no doubt it existed further back in time.

So really I am complaining that my culture (Western) is being suppressed at the expense of others. Is this a fair point? Isn't this just a way to restore a sense of balance? Is it a way to make up for the unfairness against others in the past? Well, you could make that point, but I reject it for two reasons...

First, two wrongs don't make a right. If one culture is repressed by another, the answer isn't to allow the situation to reverse. The correct answer is to make those two cultures equal. Anything else just perpetrates the exact unfairness we are trying to eliminate, but in the opposite direction.

Second - and a bit more controversially - I think Western culture is actually superior to all others, and I think it deserves a special place in the world. Yeah, I did warn you that this would be a more controversial point, didn't I!

I want to spend most of this post defending (because it probably needs defence) the second point, but I'll just briefly expand on the first point before I do that.

People, quite rightly, become resentful when they see another group being given extra rights and privileges which they don't have. And they become more resentful when it's OK - in fact encouraged - to criticise their world view, and way of life, but they can't retaliate against their critics without being called a bigot or racist, or risking deplatforming, or dismissal from their work, or even prosecution.

And beyond that, it's just morally wrong to allow one group to be the victims of endless criticism and repression while another group is given more and more privileges. If it is bad for group A to be given priority over group B, then it should be equally bad for B to be given similar extra privileges which A doesn't have.

So there is both a practical and a philosophical reason to reject the idea, and that should be sufficient to convince most people. But, of course, it doesn't, because many people see this issue as a point of political ideology, and they cannot see beyond that.

But let's get back to my more controversial claim. That is, that Western culture is actually superior to all others. I have quoted many stats and facts showing how countries based on Western political and philosophical systems are superior to others in a post titled "West is Best" from 2018-02-24, so refer to that for the factual details, but here I want to concentrate on the bigger philosophical picture.

So, if you are easily offended by facts which disagree with your political beliefs, please stop reading this now. If you are prepared to listen to an argument and possibly amend your beliefs accordingly, then read on. And if you think you can find flaws in my logic, then please read this, and show where I'm wrong in the comments.

OK, let's do this...

First, let's just start with a useful definition of the word "culture". Here are the two which are relevant from the Oxford English Dictionary: 1: "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively" and 2: "the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society".

So we are talking about the beliefs, customs, laws, politics, arts, sciences, and philosophy belonging to a particular group. Now this is where things get difficult, because all groups (for example national groups like Americans, religious groups like Muslims, or political groups like libertarians) are quite diverse, and there is a hopelessly complicated overlap between them, because everyone belongs to multiple groups.

However I would like to try to move past this, for the sake of advancing the discussion. I think everyone knows what Western (or any other) culture is, even though there is some debate around the edges of what should and shouldn't be included.

Second, let's accept that cultures are different. I think everyone knows this, although they sometimes might try to deny it by saying things like "we are all part of one big culture: humans on planet Earth". Sure, that is true, but there are distinct groups within that bigger group too. And if cultures aren't different, then why do so many people insist they want to see more of one (usually a minority) represented in the greater society? If all cultures are the same, then it doesn't matter which one dominates.

Third: if cultures are all different, it only makes sense that they will all have strengths and weaknesses in different areas. This should be able to be established objectively. For example, to find a culture's importance in science, make a list of important scientific discoveries and establish which culture they came from, then compare the number of contributions to science from different cultures with the number of people who are part of it.

I must admit here that there is a level of subjectivity and imprecision, because we must answer questions like: who decides what the factor being measured is, and how should we actually measure it, and how do we establish what culture a person belongs to, and is the person part of a team which might encompass multiple cultures? But these are all details rather than fundamentals, and I think there is still a fair way to approximate a culture's value.

So, finally, some cultures are just better than others. It is an inevitable consequence of the chain of logic I presented above, and it is reinforced by those statistics I mentioned in the "West is Best" blog post. Sure, you could carefully pick attributes which make your culture of choice look better (see my discussion on subjectivity, above), but I think if people are honest they would arrive at a list of values which would be close to universal, and some cultures just appreciate and instantiate those values better than others.

The reason I went down this path was a recent debate I had with people on-line regarding the contribution of Maori (the original inhabitants of New Zealand) culture to science. I pointed out that Maori culture has essentially contributed nothing, and that lead me to thinking about other cultures as well. Basically, almost all science comes from the West, although the Islamic world made some contributions during its "golden era" and some Asian cultures (especially Indian and Chinese) were also valuable.

But look at the great theories and discoveries of science and they all come from the West. Here's a list: classical physics, quantum theory, relativity, the theory of evolution, the Big Bang, germ theory, atomic theory, genetics, electromagnetic theory. You think these are all just highly theoretical ideas with no real use? Well, no, they are the absolute basis of the technology of our global (Western lead) civilisation. They are the framework of computing, communications, medicine, and almost any other technology that makes our lives easier.

And this brings me the the last aspect of this topic which I want to finish this post with: that is that Western culture is under-appreciated. All that it is most known for today is colonialism, slavery, environmental destruction, and military conquest. But the exact opposite is closer to the truth. In addition to the sci/tech I listed above, Western culture also is responsible for: democracy, environmentalism, the abolition of slavery, increased peace, feminism (a mixed blessing), equality, longer lives, and increased health.

So when I defend my culture - because despite living in New Zealand, I do identify with traditional European and American culture more than Pacific - from those who attack it, I think I have sufficient justification for doing that. It does feel like we are in a culture war, and I am going to defend my side, often by attacking the enemy. I am proud of my roots, even including the activities which today look inappropriate, because whatever faults Western culture has, it's by far the best we have ever had.

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