There seems to be a mistaken belief in modernity that all cultures are equal. This is ingrained in western societies due to them being multi-ethnic. However, culture is more than ethnicity. It is a mode of being and or living. When we compare western culture to Chinese/Taiwanese culture, for example, we can make the following assertions:
The Western Legal system is superior; (Habeas Corpus, the adversarial process, due process, individual liberties, etc are distinctly western ideas promulgated throughout the centuries. More specifically, the English legal system (aka the common law), found in the Anglosphere is simply the best legal system on the planet. Is it any wonder, the English speaking countries also happen to the richest and the ones people want to migrate too? The UK, US, Canada, Austrailia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, all use the common law. Japan’s constitution lets not forget was written by General McArthur and laid the foundation for parliamentary democracy and western capitalism.
The Enlightenment. Western Societies went through an Enlightenment of knowledge and learning whereas the East and the Middle East never did. Hence, the latter cultures still have deeply ingrained beliefs which are counter-productive to modernity. Confucianism for example, is deeply damaging, in that it forces an individual to acquiesce to authority without question, and requires one to overlook obvious truths. It puts people into classes, and does not value an individuals intrinsic worth.
Morality. While this has gone through a decline in recent years, the Greco -Roman Philosophical origins of the west, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates, along with the Judeo-Christian precepts which focus on the individual are superior to the unhealthy obsession Taoism/Buddhism has with the dead and materialism (ghost money for instance).
Freedom of Speech. Freedom of speech is arguably the biggest right the west has; albeit is dying now due to people shutting down opinions they disagree with. The East never has, and probably never will embrace this right. In Taiwan, this is given lip service. There is no freedom of speech in Taiwan, and the country still has the remnants of the Chiang Kai Shek dictatorship.
Speaking of Truth, the west is a truth-seeking society. Taiwan is a face-saving society. In the west truth trumps Mianzi (face). In the east, Mianzi trumps truth. Guanxi trumps truth.
Bo Yang, the Taiwanese author of the Ugly Chinaman wrote this:
“Chinese people’s inability to co-operate and their predilection for bickering among themselves are deep-rooted, harmful traits. These behaviour patterns do not stem from any inherent weakness in the moral fibre of the Chinese people, but rather from a ‘neurotic virus’ which infects Chinese culture, making it impossible for us not to act in certain ways in given situations. We may be entirely aware of the fact that we quarrel among ourselves, yet it is beyond our control to stop it. ‘If the pot breaks, no one can have anything to eat; but if the sky falls, there’ll always be someone tall enough to prevent it from falling on me.’ This tendency towards internecine struggle is associated with a terrible reluctance to admit mistakes… .”
In sum, Western Culture is better than Eastern Culture and there is no shame or racism is saying so. What do you think?
While I’ll agree some cultures are better than others, I’m not sure whether to even waste typing time on this one.
Wonder if the OP has actually visited Taiwan, ever?
I would say they’re more a light-brown colour, especially if they’re caramel flavour, which is the superior flavour. So what does that tell you, eh? eh?
Its been a while since I’ve been down this road so I’ll bite. The question of what makes one culture good is an important one that has been asked since the time of Socrates. It has been said that a good culture can be identified by the good people that it creates. Likewise, good people will necessary create a good culture. This is, of course, quite circular.
I once had a discussion with a colleague about cultural superiority. He asserted that western music was superior to Chinese music. I didn’t want to debate this particular aspect of culture because, ostensibly, he was correct. I’m not a musician and I can’t say for sure if he was correct or not but I did study philosophy in college (biggest mistake of my life).
The hardest part of claiming that one culture is superior over another is that we must identify values that should be held by all cultures. Of course if one culture doesn’t share these values they would be deemed lesser or perhaps more primitive. It might seem easy to identify and rank what is important in a society but it most certainly isn’t. The very existence of different cultures serves as a proof that not all cultures should be the same and not every culture can be the same. Its a can of worms is what I’m saying.
Plus… this line of thought is essentially fruitless. So there’s that.
The alternative method would be to identify outcomes that are universally accepted as undesirable. If one culture predictably produces people who are uniformly discontented, unproductive, and endlessly annoying or killing each other, then it’s safe to say that culture has a problem.
There are some subtleties there - in that people in such dysfunctional cultures usually rationalise away their behaviours with things like “well, I don’t really like going to kill the neighbours, but what else are ya gonna do?” - but if pressed, people in failing cultures will usually admit that life could be better.
Most happy cultures got that way from exploiting other cultures.
Cultural superiority is a very difficult argument to make because what makes one culture great might make another culture toxic. Also, the successes that you attribute to culture might have had their causes in something completely accidental.
“How can I get foreigners in Taiwan to say stupid things about Asian people so I can then use it against them?” or “Slow news day! drum up some xenophobia!!”
