On “We Are Much More Than Our Culture”
Many people think that culture is so broad and profound that it includes everything.So they hold the opinion that “We are much less than our culture”.However,my point is “We are much more than our culture”.And in order to illustrate my opinion better,I’d like to make one thing clear in the first place,that is :what culture is ,or rather,what our reference is when we u the term culturecsf.
“Culture is the deposit of knowledge ,experience,beliefs,values,actions,attitudes,meanings,hierarchies,religion,notions of time ,roles,spatial relations ,concepts of the univer,,and artifacts aquired by a group of people in the cour of generations through individual and group striving.”From the definition,it ems that culture covers and contains almost everything.
However, “all cultures are marked by a dominant group who influences perceptions,communication patterns ,beliefs and values .What the groups u for their power may differ,but they all lead the way.”
Thus many people pay too much attention to the dominant groups while ignore tho individuals.So when it comes to “culture”,what we think and talk are mostly about tho dominant groups.To some degree,culture is not that broad and profound as we’ve imagined.
Under the circumstances,a question aris.Why is culture not that broad and profound as we’ve imagined?The answer is related to what our reference is when we u the term culture.
As what were said above,when we refer to culture ,we are applying the term culture to the dominant culture found in each society.That is to say, in our mind ,we unconsciously narrow the meaning of “culture”to include the dominant culture only.
When talking about Chine culture,what comes to foreigners’ mind is usually Han culture,not the culture of national minority.Similarly,in people’s mind,we Chine u chopsticks ,which is regarded as table culture.However,we can’t say that the culture of national minority is not Chine culture.And there are Chine who don’t u chopsticks.
Tho exceptions are all culture,but not belong to the narrowed culture in our mind.
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In this way,we can come to the conclusion that we are much more than our culture for we unconsciously narrow the meaning of culture.
On the basis of narrowing the meaning of culture,I find that the uniqueness of the individual and the never-ending developing of culture can also account for my opinion.
Firstly let’s come to the uniqueness of the individual.Every human being is unique,and it’s out of the question to encounter two people exactly alike.It’s the unique human beings who create colorful culture.
personalsIn China,it’s kind of you to offer help to an old man who is crossing a street or carrying a large package.The old man being helped will thank your help,and others will speak highly of your warmheartedness.However,if you think all the old people are happy to be helped,you are wrong.Maybe most elderly persons appreciate others’ help,but there’re some exceptions who don’t want to be labelled as weak and helpless persons.
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We must keep in mind that we are,at our basic core,individuals,and therefore,the values and behaviors of a partucular culture may not be the values and behavoirs of all the individuals within that culture.We can’t deny the existence of individual culture just becau they are not dominant.It is therefore important to be mindful of oversimplification.As the example prents,”all the old people are happy to be helped”is a kind of oversimplification.
出国留学申请流程Be aware of the uniqueness of the individual and get rid of oversimplification,we’ll find “we are much more than our culture”.
Secondly,cultures are dynamic systems that do not exist in a vacuum,so they are subject to change.
2012年大学英语四级成绩查询“TEh INTeRn3T i5 THr3@+EN1N9 t0 Ch@n93 thE W4Y wE $p34k.”Do you know the meaning of this ntence?It’s “The Internet is threatening to change the way we speak”. This kind of language is called leetspeak. In fact,it has appeared long long ago.But it was not until last year that it came to be known by the public. Several years ago,when talking
小学培训机构about language,few would mention leetspeak though it existed indeed.Recently,with the development of the internet,leetspeak develops greatly,and almost everyone knows and regards it as network language.attach
What I want to say from this example is new things emerge eveytime and everwhere,and no matter what stages,infancies or golden stages, are tho new things in,they all belong to culture.The problem is,we hardly pay any attention to them when they’re in their infancies,or in other words,when they aren’t dominant.Nevertheless,not knowing is not equal to not existing.
