As a young boy in small-town Wisconsin, I would never have expected to live in a country not my own for over a third of my life (actually, 40% and counting). Have I felt odd or out of place? Not really. I long ago accepted living among people whose language I only nominally understand. Their culture is not the one in which I was raised, but that most certainly doesn’t make it wrong. Here, my culture is the odd one out.
This perspective has helped me hone my thoughts: that is (ironically) that my thoughts are not the only way to think, and that my culture is not the only culture that gives value to any particular thing.
Seeing some who cannot come to that realization is often a source of amusement to me. They grit their teeth in frustration because Koreans don’t do things the way they believe they should (that is, “the right way”), not realizing that perhaps the Korean is doing the same in return. Glaring differences in our cultures, and seeing how Americans react to them are a study for which there are no shortage of lessons. I can say with confidence that they’ve certainly helped me grow in knowing that this world is far from what any one person of any particular place may believe.
I’m reminded here of a Nigerian biomedical scientist whom I followed while I was on social media. She was ferociously pro-life, and coined the term “ideological neocolonialism” to describe Western involvement in the African continent – that is, that the Western insistence that allowing abortion as a condition for receiving aid was no different than the colonialism of old. We will “help” you, but you must change your values for us. [Such a good term – “ideological neocolonialism.” It carries so much with it…]
And now, having left social media platforms, I am seeing the things of culture even more clearly because I’m able to pay closer attention to world events through the media where I live. Korea reports regularly on what’s happening in America, and I get to see the words and actions of prominent Americans highlighted in these reports. It’s helped me come to the conclusion that the concept of American exceptionalism is a myth held long enough by the American people that many continue to believe it.
Don’t misunderstand me here: it is undeniable that the system of beliefs and, to some extent governance that was brought into this world by the United States has made America the leader in producing some of the greatest things the world has ever seen. But this does not give the American people a free pass. We Americans live under the freedoms that our nation created and have sustained for over two centuries (a flawed freedom for sure, but far better than that of most any other nation in the world). And yet, this doesn’t mean that the people as individuals are always right. When given a particular challenge, the American people were afforded the freedom to react differently than people in other places, and this is why they lead the world in invention. But put someone from any other country within that system and you find them flourishing. This says more about people as individuals when given the opportunities America affords than it says about the “citizenship” they hold.
And that brings me back to culture. Immigrants, regardless of where they’re coming from or going to, all come from different cultures. They do and value things differently. This does not mean that they need not learn from and obey the laws and customs of the country in which they choose to live – this is no different than what is expected of an immigrant to any country anywhere. But their coming from a different culture does not make them wrong. On the contrary, it makes them valuable and it adds flavor to the culture they join. To think any one person or culture is superior is certainly an illusion.
Or is it…?
[…] the end of Part I, I conclude, “To think any one person or culture is superior is certainly an illusion.” But then […]