From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Nov 25 2002 - 08:58:20 MST
On Mon, Nov 25, 2002 at 09:22:46AM -0500, Dehede011@aol.com wrote:
> The truth is that I have had it with European cultural arrogance. In
> so far as I am concerned they can either display some of their
> European culture by keeping a civil tongue in their heads or they can
> be told some plain truths.
I actually think you have an interesting point here: people constantly
underestimate the cultural difference between the sides of the Atlantic,
and this leads to major problems. If one looks at surveys of cultural
dimensions, the US is clearly more individualistic than European
countries, and there are more complex differences in uncertainty
avoidance and traditionalism.
To take a typical example, American CVs are regarded by Europeans as
boastful, padded and giving an exaggerated image of the person. While
European CVs in the US are regarded as too humble, giving the impression
of mediocrity. Similarly at scientific conferences, american researchers
usually strongly delineate their conclusions with few qualifiers,
expecting the audience to provide the balancing criticism, while
European (especially Scandinavian) researchers mention all issues and
problems, expecting the audience to give constructive criticism on how
to reach stronger conclusions. Needless to say, these differences are
often misinterpreted by people not used to them.
American culture emphasizes "plain truths" - anybody can pronounce them,
they are universally true and they tend to flatten the pompous windbags.
It is very much a individualist, non-traditionalist society thing, with
a healthy dose of enlightenment rationalism thrown in. European culture
(which doesn't really exist, but let's take a blender and mix it all) on
the other hand emphasizes shared context - there is a lot of history,
knowledge and compromises around, so while they should be taken with a
grain of salt (the enlightenment again) one cannot dismiss them out of
hand. At least one should get a bit of consensus before doing something.
The real irony is of course that american culture is spreading, and one
reason many Europeans are so outspoken against the US (and American
culture!) is that they have accepted the "plain truth" meme as something
allowing them to speak out loudly and without seeking consensus. "Real"
high-culture European arrogance is subtle - the discreet put-down,
raised eyebrow or opaque pronouncement.
To sum up, that people on both sides of the Atlantic are shouting at
each other at least suggests that there is some communication.
I agree with Greg that there is no point in shouting on this list, but
rather to look at what we, as extropians, can learn and come up with. I
hope this little essay on culture might help us ignore these minor
cultural differences and help us understand the complexities of dealing
with far more different cultures (after all, Europe and America have
only had a few centuries to diverge - they are nearly twins).
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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