From: steve (steve365@btinternet.com)
Date: Sat Jun 01 2002 - 14:44:34 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Phillips" <deepbluehalo@earthlink.net>
To: <extropians@tick.javien.com>
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 2:53 PM
Subject: re: ethnocentrism and extropianism?
Since I just posted something in response to this here are my reactions to
these questions.
> Damien,
> Do you enjoying spending quality time with people who
> you identify with?
Yes, but like Damien I think there is a circular argument implicit in this
question.
Do you detect patterns in those
> you identify with, whether behavioural or otherwise?
Up to a point, but not particularly.
> Do you find that the cultural,and psychosocial
> attitudes typical of some arbitrarily defined phenotypic
> groups make you desire to exit their vicinity as quickly
> as is feasible?
No, not at all. I do find that certain 'cultural groups' have that effect on
me but I've never found that to be associated with a specific phenotype.
> Do you feel that you should be allowed to associate and
> contract freely with those you identify with, and decline
> to associate and contract with those you do not wish to
> for any reason what so ever?
Yes.
> Do you acknowledge that individuals possess different
> levels of various abilities
Yes.
and that various populations of
> like individuals possess, on average, different strengths
> and weaknessess, in relation to their in-group likeness?
No, not to any great extent. To the extent that this is the case I don't see
how it can affect my relations with individuals from any group.
> Do you feel it is your duty to decline to shrink from those
> perceptions you believe to be valid, in this regard?
Question doesn't arise - see above.
> Do you have a strong affinity for a specific cultural
> background, and view it as a scource of strength, honor,
> and integrity you can use to help make difficult decisons
> when your own abilities seem inadequate to the tasks
> before you?
No, not at all. Nor do I think this is the correct way to approach that kind
of decision.
> Do you prize the ideal of family relationships, and extend
> that ideal outwards in a manner consistent with the other
> larger groups relationship to those family bonds?
Yes and no. I have high regard for freely chosen family committments and the
obligation that may exist with regard to one's parents, biological or
otherwise. I do not believe that one should extend those obligations outward
in the way implied (i.e. I do not think some kind of genetic relation
implies an obligation of some kind).
> Do you look at the heroes of the past, people with whom
> you can identify, and resolve each day to take their greatness
> into your own life-struggle and express the precious gift
> of that cultural inheritance in new and ever-more meaningful
> ways?
I do respect past heroes (people I admire for some reason) but don't see
this as an aspect of a cultural inheritance or of some unchosen part of my
identity.
> Do you look with disquiet and sometimes with loathing on those
> who seem bent on attacking you for quietly being a person
> your grandparents and ancestors would be proud of (if somewhat
> confused by, given the march of progress), and also for wishing
> to pass on that inheritance and culture in as great a measure as
> possible to your descendants, again consistent with the needs
> of a complex evolving world?
No, not at all. What my ancestors would think of me is not a relevant
criterion for me. (Useless apart from anything else). I don't neccessarily
want to pass on a 'culture' as though it's a discrete bundle. There are
things extant in the here and now (including knowledge of the past) that I
would like to pass on but I feel it's a pick and mix matter for me.
> Do you despise the illogic and laziness of thought that gives
> rise to decitful and malicious politics of presumptive victimhood
> and the quest for ever-higher levels of a persecution quotient?
Absolutely. Mind you that is rather a "Have you stopped beating your wife"
kind of question, don't you think?
> Are you proud as hell of who, what, and what sort you are..
I have pride in things I have personally achieved or chosen but not of
anything else. How can you be proud of something you had no part in? Or
ashamed for that matter?
> and do you think anyone who believes that's reason for guilt
> should get aquainted with a hungry wolf pack far far away from
> you?
No.
And would you smile if you found out they actually did so
> without any help from you?
Absolutely no.
>
> If so you may be somewhat ethnocentric, that is, someone who
> is "centered" or rooted in their heritage.
Clearly I am not it would seem.
> There is a saying in the neijiaquan arts to the effect that
> "Rooting is first, it is the heart of the steppings, which make
> the weak strong and enable the pure of heart to overcome
> the hundreds of foes without fear."
>
What does that mean, exactly?
Steve Davies
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