Cultural takeover - Society Forum

Novice Joined: Dec 24, 2004 Posts: 8

I think that the West is taking over the East at last. Not through invasion but through changing the people there. If you ever had the pleasure of visiting India a decade back and if you can visit NOW you would know what I am taking of. ( It is not just about India but the whole region)
It is not as if the living conditions there have improved or any such thing...they have done well for themselves in IT sector but the crux of their living has changed. You would see more and more of jeans and shirts rather than their traditional sari there is not that sticking to their values anymore. People are changing toward what I would call pseudo modernism Confused

IS this change for the better? As I said earlier, I don’t want to target India its about the whole loss of the rich culture of the region that is steadily vanishing.

Apprentice Joined: Jan 03, 2005 Posts: 10

Yeah, you just have to admit that the change is there. And hopefully now they will give up the cruel practices of the past Evil or Very Mad

and be more civilized like the developed world. Cool

Apprentice Joined: Dec 24, 2004 Posts: 14

It is a shame that they are giving up their culture for that of the West, keeping in mind that the West does not have the same rich culture as the Asian countries…I’m not talking of tradition, culture is something different…it is, I guess, the essence of their existence, it is the ways they have always followed, unthinkingly and we don’t see too much of that anymore.

Sad

Apprentice Joined: Jan 03, 2005 Posts: 10

Then you mean to say that the uncivilized ways of those CULTURES should be continued? Let them treat women as they used to? Let child labor continue? If they are changing their ways why moan about it? Question

Apprentice Joined: Dec 24, 2004 Posts: 14

No I don’t mean that at all. I am sorry if you misunderstand me. The odious practices such as sati (burning the wife with the dead husband) and stoning are not the things to defend.
The values have to be defended.
What I am talking about is the sort of stuff we blame on MTV. It was not just a revolution in the entertainment industry, MTV changed lives, in case of the East the generation that was first influenced by it has now grown up into adults…adults that are confused about their own culture. It is not up to the Americans or the British to come up and help these cultures back on their feet, it is something they will have to do for themselves. And hopefully they will stay as valuable part of this global village!

Rising Star Joined: Dec 24, 2004 Posts: 24

Well you have rightly pointed out the role of media in the situation. The internet has also made it a smaller world than it used to be and therefore there is more exposure and the lure towards the west, because of the advancements and the FREEDOM here is immense.
It may not all be positive, but it is a change that will probably improve the human rights situations.

Novice Joined: Jun 03, 2005 Posts: 7

Cultural turnover. I presume that no one in this discussion is from india or any of the other countries! And since i am from india i thought it was my moral obligation to reply here... Smile

But i only speak for my own country

So where do i begin.
Yes there is a huge change in the country. For good or worse i will come to that later. India is a huge country as you all would know. By huge i mean we have so much diversity that every region has its own language, dance, culture. History of any nation has a great impact on it. Similarly the 200 year rule of the empire had a great effect. Be it physically or otherwise...when the britishers left india there was an upheavl. Thy left us with partition and we are still facing its after effects.

So India became...India,Pakistan and Bangladesh. There has been so much bloodshed over that till now...!!

Now coming to the present. Today as a developing nation india faces a lot of challenges, internally as well as externally. It has taken to Modern technology and gone for an image makeove if i may say that. From the land of mystical...We have become one of the world's fastest growing economies.

I am not advocating westernisation... neither am i against it. I think and thats what we believe in india...that one should take the good from everywhere. For exampple, if globalisation is helping the youth get good jobs then why not?? If english is the spoken language the world over... then why not? We do not want to be behind anyone!!

As far as culture is concerned. I do not think that one can leave it ever.
I am a student...I wear jeans and not sarees, I love eating burgers and not roti... I love watching english movies more than hindi ones...I am an ENGLISH literature student... All seems werternised. But i equally love indian coustoms... live with my parents... still wont go out on a date... and all that. These customs may sound pretty silly to some people but i love as much.

Every culture teaches new and wonderful things. By embibing them, we do not leave our own culture. Rather we grow and develop our way of looking at things in a broder mnner.

Cultural colonisation is something we have to rise above. Rather than preserving our culture we should let it intermingle with other cultures and let the world be one nation.

Addict Joined: Aug 04, 2005 Posts: 69

What is an improvement to human rights?

Is it still my right to believe that homosexuality is wrong, or am I just behind the times and do I just need to grow up with the rest of the world? This is the one item I keep coming back to because I'm tired of people calling me a homophobe because I still hate the practice of homosexuality and refuse to be friends with anyone who is homo or bi sexual.

While many issues pertaining to human rights apply to western cultural definitions of democracy, I have a feeling that at some point we will begin to apply these same standards to a group of people who insist that their wives have no rights at all. Afterall, theirs is a culture larger than ours so if we are truly a democracy then we have to respect their differences as well.
Otherwise, we cannot call western worlds democracys, they are aristocracies where all citizens conforming to western/"christian" standards have rights that others don't.

Note the quotes around christian. They are there for a reason.

Moderator Joined: Jun 21, 2005 Posts: 264

Cwes? Glad you see homosexuality for the perversion it is!!! Just think about what they actually do and it becomes clear!

Rights? Women's rights?
You mean the right for a mother to murder her baby while it's still in the womb?

Detestable.

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