Preservation of Culture: Instinct or Racism

[IamNuts]

The term "Racism" has been kicked around a lot these days, which has extended to mean just about anything that supports the preservation of a cultural identity at the exclusion of homogenizing it with another, some cultures more prone to branding than others and anything marked as racist has become synonymous with extreme evil, nazis, KKK, etc, which are totally inaccurate associations by the way at least for the most part.

Although I'm going to talk mostly about culture, the same applies to all races, creeds and groups out there.

What exactly is Cultural Preservation?

In today's western society what we have deemed racist is really just an extended instinct of self preservation.

I remember this question where this guy asked why we aren't worried about the white race going extinct due to race mixing, this isn't what bothered me though regardless to say he didn't really know what he was talking about in the first place, what did bother me was the fact that many of the people who posted their opinions were actively calling for homogenization and calling him a racist for him trying to preserve his culture. Granted he could have phrased his question in a better non-agressive way but for the most part he wasn't really in the wrong.

Self preservation just doesn't relate to the proper fuctioning of one's body but to society and culture as well, making it only natural for a people to want to maintain their unique cultural identity as an extension of themselves.

We associate our personal individualities with more than just the clothing we wear and the car we drive. Embedded within our individuality is the culture that we were brought up in, the culture that we currently live in and the culture of our ancestors that preceeded us.

Taking Pride in Our Culture

If a person dares to have pride in their culture and resists the demands of our modern society to coform to the current social norm, they risk becoming a sort of an outcast pariah, at least if they dared to express any view point relating to anti-homogenization for any reason whatsoever.

Society has deemed it wrong for one to want that piece of you that is intervined with the history and traditions of your ancestors, to live on.

In today's western society you will be deemed a "racist" if you wish to see your children carry on in the same cultural vein that you are a part of, and God forbid you desire them to look like you too.

Culture and Identity

Humanity through out time has formed extensions of itself and the expressions of these extensions is what we call culture; thus the desire to preserve these unique cultures by their adherents is complete natural.

Every race, culture, and people's histories is worthy of preservation. The thing that seperates humans from animals is our diversity and uniqueness among it's different peoples. Every culture is a facet of humanity expressing itself, and any facet destroyed is both a tragedy and an irrecoverable loss that weakens us humans as a species collectively.

The instinct to self-preserve oneself through not only body but the culture in which they reside and are a part of isn't evil or racist, it's natural and in fact gives humanity some of it's greatest strength when solidity is needed. By creating a cultureless people with no identity and history, humanity is easily divided and broken in spirit. Culture invisibly binds a group of people together and allows them to be a part of something greater than themselves.

Cultural Homogenization

Homogenezation is not a requirement for unity. A set of core principals can easily transcend and bind different cultures while still preserving their true essence. In the theory both The Constitution and the Bill of Rights does this. Both are transcultural and protect cultures by giving individuals Freedom of Expression to maintain those cultures without being hassled provided they don't hassle others either.

In essence wishing to preserve your own culture is 100% natural.

I am not saying that it is wrong to mix cultures provided it is agreed upon by both the representatives.
What is wrong however is being told that it is not okay to desire our individual cultural identities to persist into the future, or the active agenda to push for homogenization among the western cultures and the demonization of natural resistance or calling someone racist for wanting to preserve diversity and protect the wonderful heritages of our ancestors and not being satisfied relegating those heritages into the history books.

Nature is Diverse

We, humans may have very well started as singular group of homgenized culture. However like all forms of life, humanity has spread out and diversified itself into a variety of different groups, all unique in their own sense and all worthy of preservation.

Imagine if there was only one kind of everything, one kind of car, one type of tree, one type of fish, one type of mammal, one type of grass, etc.

Or we could all go back to being single celled organisms from which all life on earth came from.
Just imagine the type of world it would be if life never diversified itself and always reamained the same, never changing.

The simple truth is Nature itself is diverse. Natures way is too expand, become more complex, more diverse and more unique as life goes on. Offshoots of culture work in the same way, it's like a culture having children; diverse yet having the same origin.

When it comes to preserving floral and faunal diversity; it's completely fine in the eyes of people but when they want to preserve human diversity, they are met with stern glares and thoughts of "he/she must be a racist".

All races, cultures, colors and creeds are precious. Wishing their annihilation though homogenization is akin to wanting all great paintings and great works of art throughout the ages to be dissolved into a pot, obliterating they're unique beauty forever.

[RedThread]

Hmm I have a few problems with this take.
1) Culture and race aren't the same thing. Any member of any ethnic background can identify with any culture
2) No culture lasts forever or is preserved. Throughout history with the rise and fall of empires came the rise and fall of many different cultures. In fact many cultures today are the combination of previous cultures and human migrations. Languages, cultures, religions, etc. always shift and change with history. Preserving culture or language is a futile exercise.
3) Your last point is a bad analogy. Just because cultures can change doesn't mean you can't appreciate the history of the cultures. It doesn't mean you can't recognize what they've contributed to history. It isn't like when cultures combine and mix that their beauty is lost forever. If that was the case there would be no reason for preserving art or historical artifacts of any kind that aren't related to cultures as they stand today.
4) You mention being diversity and how nature strives for it. This is true which is why we are naturally intrigued and attracted by our differences. They say opposites attract and that's indeed true to an extent. Are you implying that if humans didn't care about race it would kill diversity? In fact that contributes to diversity. The more diverse the genes the healthier the offspring. This is precisely why there's so much diversity in the animal kingdom. This is why incest is frowned upon. The ultimate step some royal families did throughout history to preserve their 'royal' bloodlines actually led to their ruin.
5) "By creating a cultureless people with no identity and history, humanity is easily divided and broken in spirit." What exactly does a cultureless society look like? Is that even possible? I really can't fathom as to where you were going with this. Like I touched on earlier, just because we blend cultures doesn't make culture nonexistent. In fact the cultures we value today come from different cultures. Future generations will do the same thing with ours.
6) Humanity is MORE divided with less distinct cultures? On the contrary, I think that the more blended our cultures become the more tolerant as a society we become. This will unite humanity more than divide it. For example, I'm not African or Egyptian but I take great pride in the human ingenuity it took to build the pyramids and the cultural paradigms of the time that led to it. The more we blend cultures the more people we identify with.

[RedThread]

I ran out of room but essentially the main point is the futility of trying to preserve cultures or ethnic/racial lines.

Xenophobia won't prevent it from coming to pass. There's nothing we can do to stop it and I don't see why we would want to. We would need the power to prevent change and nobody has such power. The only thing we can count on is that everything any of us holds dear today will probably be irrelevant and meaningless 1000 years in the future from now. Our most deeply held convictions could be nonexistent and our cultures unrecognizable. That's just the way of history.

[IamNuts]

@RedThread
Wow that was a lot to read :P
While I do agree with everything you said, I think you forget that the sole point of my take was to simply prove that it isn't racist to want to preserve your culture and to be fair I did say it isn't wrong to mix cultures provided it is agreed upon by both the representatives.
Also I didn't really intend to pass off race as culture, and I'm sorry if you felt that it came off as that way cause that wasn't really my intention.

[RedThread]

Ah no problem. I hope you weren't offended by my response. I wasn't trying to attack you or anything.

[HikerDude]

You misread her take. *She* never equate race with culture, she merely decried others who label cultural preservation as "racist" (their label, not hers).

[RachelBrigs]

The people who are genuinely concerned that eventually whites will be the minority as the "races" "mix" more and more, are not worried about losing their white culture.

White culture is American culture. That's it. At least, that's how it is in the US. In Europe its a different story obviously.
I'm not sure how you can lose that culture by having mixed race children.
Everyone needs to just grow up. If you're against mixing races you're most likely of the mind that one race is more superior than the other.

Scientifically, mixing races is very beneficial for the human race, as the more diverse the genetic code is, the healthier you tend to be.

[IamNuts]

This isn't about race or race mixing. Did you even read the whole take?

[LiveFreeorDieHard]

I laugh when i hear people say that one day everyone will be blended. South korea, united states and brazil are the most diverse countries in the world. Look up their rates of difference races having babies togethef, they are really really low. Most poeple stay within their own race. People will say, oh but i see this with this so many. Yeah, but when you actually look at the cold facts, its not true at all. So i wanted to point that out. Second, not all cultures are good. Are you telling me the aravic culture of keeping women like cattle, killing people for having different religions and not beliving in not loaning money because the kuran says so is just as good as a western culture of individual liberty and freedom, tolerance, and equality and capitalitic economic systmem. No way. See, whenever you look at history, cultures and poeple fight and compete with other different poeple and cultures. There is always a winner and a loser. The loser of coarse adopts the culture of the victor. This Is why tolerance i hard for people, its in our dna. But this is the very important part, out dna or evolutionary pscycolgy does not control us. Thats why bigots and sexists are called dumb. Because they have the cavemen mentality. We have to rise up and see we are all one team. Life is not a zero sum game, if someone wins, there isint always a loser. Most people my age are color blind and dont care what color anyones skin is. Of coarse there are those shit heads who do but no one likes them anyways lol. Let me know what you think.

[BigJake]

Couldn't agree more. "Multi-culturalism" is the biggest farce ever forced upon us by the bleeding hearts and one-worlders. These are the same people, mind you, who celebrate Third-World cultures while advocating the suppression of Western cultures in the name of "diversity." These folks essentially want the West to accommodate all other cultures at their own expense, to welcome all immigrants into our societies and provide them with a blank slate upon which to express their cultures.

Liberals indoctrinated in the worst of PC ideology typically deem the vestiges of European culture in America as oppressive, because it's somehow wrong for us to expect others to adopt any part of our culture or integrate into society. This will eventually lead to the balkanization of our country, and you can already see signs that it's happening. Black people and muslims are demanding separate rules and police forces to cater to their demands. Just note the "no-go zones" in Europe if you want an example of what's coming to the United States.

[Lolomon]

Race isn't real so mixing cultures isn't going to make a " culture go instinct " . There have been and are Europeans of all colors, hair textures , facial features and it's always been that way. I don't know for sure when we started calling people by their skin color but I know is B. C. yo I can be black and French , your ancestors have been in France for hundred of years, your culture is French. Keep in mind much of the royal families in Europe have black in them, the German queen was half black hundreds of years ago and her children married into the English, Spanish and French kingdom. Yes, their is a wave of everyone be the same, think the same, act the same but people don't work that way, we have traditions and culture for a reason. People who called that racist are stupid and ignorant and people who don't believe in race mixing are jus as stupid race isn't real. Keep in mind Its a very Nazi thing, they helped push the concept of race

[IamNuts]

culture go instinct?
I believe your talking about race and not culture. That wasn't my intended point, my point is simply that cultural homogenization should not be forced upon those that do not want it.

[RationalMale]

Race isn't real?

Is that why different races are physically different from a medical standpoint? Why they have different average height, weights, and builds? Why different races are more vulnerable to different ailments?

Is that why IQ testing consistently has shown that Orientals, European-Caucasians, Hispanics, and African-Americans have different IQ averages?

[RationalMale]

Next you'll say there's no such thing as different breeds of dogs. German shepherds, labs, poodles, chihuahuas, pitbulls, bulldogs... they are just social constructs. There's no such thing as dog breeds, right?

[Lolomon]

@RationalMale Hispanic not a race or considered a race in modern world. Ethnicity is real. I can't take a DNA teat and find out m y race But I can take a DNA test and find out my ethnicity where my ancestors at from the continent, country, village. Science says race isn't real it's society and government who categorize people.

[RationalMale]

Really? You can go look up stats for the USA right now. Different races have different average height and weight, for instance. They also have different average IQ scores.

[Lolomon]

@RationalMale yo I sound dumb. Have you ever taken a human studies class or a biology class. Yes race is a social construct such is gender, Iys only real because society allows it to be but science doesn't acknowledge it

[RationalMale]

"yo I sound dumb."

Well, we agree on that.

[Lolomon]

@RationalMale are you saying science is wrong?

[Lolomon]

@RationalMale I urge you to take a biology class.

[AdamThomas]

Explain then why when it comes to organ transplants the operation is much more likely to be a success if the donor is of the same race? Why do Asian people have an average IQ of 110 in comparison to the European average of 100? Why do Kenyans generally make the best long distance runners? Why do black people generally make the best sprinters? Why do different races have different specific illnesses and diseases? Why do we have different hormone levels e. g. Black men have more testosterone in general compared to white men, therefore are more at risk of prostate cancer?

[Lolomon]

@AdamThomas... now, read what you wrote. It has to do with ethnicity , once again race isn't real. stop debating a research it

[Anonymous]

Cultures are organic, they have to grow and change or they are like stuffed animals in a museum. They should not be artificially preserved. By all means help your culture to flourish, just don't put it in a glass case.

[IamNuts]

I'm not sure if your disagreeing with me or not but yes cultures should evolve and change otherwise they wouldn't be much of a culture. What isn't right is cultural homogenization, by doing so you take out the very essence of the culture itself.

[bubble_tea]

Take Owner, you say it's not about preserving race, but preserving culture. But what exactly is this culture you're speaking of that you want to preserve and how exactly is it under threat?
Are Asian immigrants demanding every restaurant in America to offer bowls and chopsticks so their way of eating doesn't stand out? Is it really a threat when there are sushi restaurants in America and not just burger restaurants? Are Muslim immigrants trying to make it law that every American prays 5 times a day? Is English under threat to not be the national language anymore? Or do you mean you lost culture when same sex marriage got legalized?
I'm really confused.

[IamNuts]

Read about Cultural homogenization.

[bubble_tea]

It's ok to not know what specific things you're even afraid of.

[AdamThomas]

You've said it better than I ever could. I've been called all sorts for saying that I wouldn't date somebody of another race because I'd prefer to preserve my culture, my race, to have my children look like me, share my values, my traditions, my religion etc. I don't believe in these things because I hate other races and cultures, I just love my own and don't want it to be destroyed.

I believe in diversity. Those who push multiculturalism, race-mixing, globalism etc. talk about embracing diversity yet the end result of merging is the destruction of it. If we're all the same how can we be diverse?

[dartmaul15]

It is a human right to preserve your own culture, and you can actually be sentenced for trying to eradicate one or unknowingly do acts that would clearly contribute to such.

It's a rarely used paragraph. But know this, it applies to a global basis, so muslims in for example usa can't use it to build a mini society in new york. BUT it does allow for example norway to stop other foreign cultures from becoming dominant. It also means we have a responsibility to protect minority cultures with its ethnic roots in norway (talking about the sami now, so anyone else can just fuck off).

So it does not justify a country banning marrying people from other cultures, i'm not saying that. I am just saying that every country has the supreme right to protect its own cuture on the large scale, as long as they operate within human rights and given laws.

[PonyCar]

Please, PLEASE for the love of god, tell me that you're not one of those idiots that can't differentiate between culture and race. It is a very important distinction that is absolutely necessary to make if you have any interest in preserving culture, AT ALL.

[IamNuts]

And where exactly did I talk about race? This whole article is about cultural homogenization.
Don't insinuate that I'm an idiot without even understanding my point.

[PonyCar]

"I remember this question where this guy asked why we aren't worried about the white race going extinct due to race mixing, this isn't what bothered me though regardless to say he didn't really know what he was talking about in the first place, what did bother me was the fact that many of the people who posted their opinions were actively calling for homogenization and calling him a racist for him trying to preserve his culture"

"In today's western society you will be deemed a "racist" if you wish to see your children carry on in the same cultural vein that you are a part of, and God forbid you desire them to look like you too."

[IamNuts]

@PonyCar
Can you not read ಠ_ಠ
"this isn't what bothered me though regardless to say he didn't really know what he was talking about in the first place, what did bother me was the fact that many of the people who posted their opinions were actively calling for homogenization and calling him a racist for him trying to preserve his culture. Granted he could have phrased his question in a better non-agressive way but for the most part he wasn't really in the wrong."

Think you're really clever don't you 😐

[PonyCar]

If you understood that race and culture were 2 different things, then you'd realize that the way you look has nothing to do with the culture you come from (and the statements made in the other question wouldn't bother you).

by the way, your "Nature is Diverse" section ignores the basic principles of biology. While you are correct that nature favors diversity, inbreeding with people who look like you (& theoretically have more similar genetic structures) does not produce MORE diversity. It produces less.

[HikerDude]

Your reading comprehension skills suck.

[TheButterfly]

White people are not one culture but many. And what about the Latin American and African cultures that were destroyed and or tampered with by slavery and misplaced boundaries of the Middle East (ex: The Kurds) due to white people's disregard? Does that not matter? Why do white people and their associated cultures matter more than other races? I grew up in Italian American culture, but my mom exposed me to so many other cultures that werent even in my family. Culture can be preserved, its homogenous race that cannot (which I really dont care about). If everyone only reproduced with their own race or ethnic group, there would not be as much genetic variation. Genetic variation is a good thing. It is comparable to pure bred dogs. Generally pure breeds are very unhealthy due to being only bred with those that share similar or the same genetics. Mutts however are much healthier because they have genetic variation. Therefore when you translate that context over to human,

[TheButterfly]

Humans with genetics from all other the world and different races are healthier. Also racism is define as : "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
"a program to combat racism"
You cannot just twist definitions to fit your agenda.

[RationalMale]

It is simply amazing that white countries today are the only ones accused of "racism" and guilted into not having any self interests.

[abundantlyrich]

Mixing genes doesn't erase treachery or the narcissism already displayed in full blooded races. The one they mate with is the one holding vital dna info that gives them desirable traits rather than more diseases such as addiction to alcoholism, cerebal palsy, a crooked spine, a lack of immune system, depression etc.

[abundantlyrich]

I'm bringing up this because some people reading your take, assume mixing with diff kinds of people means the possibility of breeding with them too and other people are obsessed with wanting their future offsprings to have white genes.

This matter of preserving culture has a lot more to do to with immigration as the question will always be raised about whether to accepting a huge ethnic group whose ideals are restrictive than theirs which in turn, cause more friction and violence at the end.

[Usaname]

Indivuality is embedded in culture, not the other way around, there are other cultures where the group has more importance than the self (japan) but yeah i agree that we can't take away one anothers cultural identity, interclultural competence blah blah bluh

[COCOCHANEL]

what bothers me is that it's ok and accepted that some cultures want to stay homogenous and it's called culture preservation while others can't because it's considered racism.

[Anonymous]

Why is it only white people that are ever concerned with this? Hmmm.

[Opinion Owner]

thats what I thought, no answer.

[RedThread]

You got an upvote from me lol

[IamNuts]

Umm answer what? You didn't ask anything 😕

[Opinion Owner]

I asked a question, do you see the question mark?

[Northeast106]

Try traveling more, you'll find others are concerned as well. Japan for instance will not take in any Syrian refugees to preserve their national interests.

[Opinion Owner]

Japan has no room for even their own people, that's the reason, they just have no room in their tiny country

[Opinion Owner]

@Northeast106

[Phoenix98]

I agree we should take measures to preserve and protect our respected cultures within our ethnic backgrounds as well as traditions and the like and the same for any outside of our own culture or ethnicity to a degree anyway.

[Bandit74]

I think they have the viewpoint that white people are the evil oppressors and that if everyone mixes eventually we will all be one race and will all be treated as equals and no one will be discriminated against.

[James19]

Great take.
I hope people understand your point.

[John_Doesnt]

It's instinct to preserve my racist culture.

[IamNuts]

Racist culture? How can a culture be racist.

[John_Doesnt]

Because the culture is about superiority and making fun of people who are different.

[IamNuts]

I don't know what culture you hail from but most cultures don't advocate superiority or make fun of people.
Take the Mexican culture for example; they value family, not only spouse/kids, but also the extended one (cousins, etc) as well friendship and community. These values don't seem to be promoting any type of superiority complex to me.

[Nathand]

tell things human should know by birth... jeeez