Post
by Traveller13 » December 6th, 2006, 8:27 am
Salutations Stilltrucking.
Long time, no write.
I think I agree with you. Except that we don't just get born into it. Culture is created by people, which means that you create it. In the present. As times evolve, you make it evolve.
I can't speak for Doreen, but if my memory is right it seems to me that the choice of the title has already been discussed.
To me culture is a lot of things.
For example, it is a custom to say "bless you" after someone says "a-tishoo".
The story behind this dates all the way back to the 17th century and is linked to religious beliefs ("God bless you"), the black plague (with or without capital letters) and current ethics (it's polite to do so). We only find people doing this in European countries ("at your wishes" in France, "Jesus" in Spain, etc) or ex-colonies that are still led by ex-Europeans.
Culture is born from a countrie's history, but also from other cultures, for without any extra-cultural exchanges it eventually stagnates and dies.
As for the title, to me it evokes facts or articles about people all around the world, who don't necessarily eat with a knife and fork or sit around tables, or aren't familiar with Santa Claus. Topics that make you more familiar with the baffling diversity of human thought, how extremely relative the reader' set of beliefs is down to its very core, which can potentially develop acceptance towards people who don't think or live like the reader, even in everyday life.
However most of the topics are about repression from the American government, and links to articles that put a deeper glance in the Occidental press. Maybe because most people on the board are American, maybe because it's harder to have access to information about other countries in America, or maybe because that's what this forum was supposed to be about in the first place.
I also understand how it's important for people here to talk about these subjects, even if it monopolises the board and only represents a tiny aspect of what culture is.
The title doen't seem relevant to me, but then again that's Doreen's choice.
It's fine by me in any case. I got used to it.
[i]~"Open your eyes, and open your eyes again"[/i]
