The culture we claim

The culture we claim to own, follow and whose values seem ‘enshrined’ by a direct link to an absolute (that of its origins in divinity) is a false pretence. 

This has become clear to me over the course of the past 72 hours; personal, micro-cosmic events have afforded me my final proof of a deep malaise. The malaise of cultural falseness and an inherent lack of understanding of what ‘civilization’, that precursor to a proper culture (and its values thereof), actually means.

I propose to compare our notions of our culture against the lofty ambition of communal living. I wish to illustrate, in my limited capacity, the dissonance that exists in what we are (communally) and what we claim to be (culturally). It would be bold of me to question whether our heritage is a complex and rich, albeit mis-represented, inheritance or a flawed, harmful descendant of ages past.

We are the one of the few cultures that refers to its elderly (or elder to us) female members as ‘aunt’. It is meant to be deference to their age and wisdom over us, and is one of the traits which identify the general trend. This label, it will not be found in other civilizations. Their ‘version’ of this label, be it “ma’am” or madam (etc.), has long been ditched as entirely at odds with normal, logical communal living. In a community, you show and claim respect based on actual behavior and attitudes. In our community, ‘auntie’ is stared at, abused if needed, looked upon as inferior by most men and in most respects, this label merely alienates. It is as if we hide behind the multiplicity of words, labels, monikers and titles merely to indulge in vile and vulgar retribution towards the same people any occasion we get. It is time we stopped having more ‘uncles’ than is natural, and started have more ‘people’ in our midst. I would urge those whose preferences lie with being called thus to consider whether there lies any inherent link between commonality and such cultural ‘throw-backs’. Mere nostalgia may not be enough.

Removal of this shield may actually make the populace more open, less aggressive and perhaps show greater traits of being a community. In the corner shop of modern civilization, the elderly store keeper helping his regular, on a first name basis, shows this trait more often.

There is another cultural oddity; the ritualization of communal activities. We have taken our interpretation of ‘orthodox morality’ to such extremes that the average person considers communal interaction almost like a special aberration in his/her daily life. There are artificial distances created, especially due to our attitude regarding man and woman interaction, amongst what have become ritual activities. Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and the rest have become a social ‘imposition’ in so far as the dictations of morality and skewed value systems impose the structures we follow. 

So much is wasted in resources when the need for communal acceptance is so directly linked to the ability to show material well-being. A single wedding function, for example, is perhaps the most logical, effective and efficient method to celebrate the wedding itself (a contract signing affair, paraded in public so that there may be consensual intercourse). Yet ‘values’ dictate multiple previews, matched equally, and catering to the requirements of local ‘culture’. Its prospective impact on harmonious communal living is marginal at best, and destructive at worse, and it stands out as a prime example of my central theme; evolutionary change in our cultural outlook is direly needed. If we are to reconcile with the core tenants of ‘civilization’ we must inculcate the ability to move along.   

Finally, what is our cultural ethos towards communal living when we observe ourselves en masse? Our children run around like little monkeys, our interactions are abrupt and usually not very civil, road rage is more a rite of passage than driving phenomenon and we are absolutely destructive to our environment (which we all happen to share). Our actual heritage, that of the few learned men living amongst sedentary, food growing masses, is limited. It is potent, along certain lines, but it has failed to provide a real ‘awakening’ in us. We seem a people very much in transition from rural life (where over-population and lack of education makes for communal living to be highly out-dated and unproductive) to urban life, where courtesy, cooperation and humanity are required. The inherent competition for food, a core component of any ‘poor’ culture, seems to have followed us far and deep. The time to convert it to a collective and competitive market for human capital beckons.