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One of the reasons why exporting our fantastic Western ideas and values at a gun point often ends up getting very messy is because of thinking that "People are the same everywhere. Of course they want the same things we value most. It's in their human nature to want to be like us, since we obviously are the closest thing to what it really means to be a human, and they can hardly wait to get to our level too."yeah but those people arent interesting.
No, people are not the same everywhere. Culture makes a difference. Not in terms of different levels of progress, but in terms of playing a different game altogether.
I'm of the belief that nobody comes up with anything completely on their own, but instead by simply mixing up the ideas and things around thembecause nothing new or good could ever happen this way. things like musical notes or colours aren't transmitted culturally so the juxtaposition of them has nothing to do with rearranging other peoples thoughts
BOB, I reread your original post and realized that I essentially was reiterating what you had said. I agree that culture IS what makes us who we are and is what defines the lines between. I think maybe what I was trying to express is the historical and prehistorical ironies (when taken in modern context) of cultural identities throughout central and north america. IE, I find it interesting when people define themselves or others as american indians or mexican indians, when in fact they were at the same time neither mexican nor american nor anything so simple as "indian" but rather a multitude of genetically similar and culturally different people.If your culture defines you, you aren't a very interesting person. You're taking part in and identifying with something you had nothing to do with. That's kind of like saying 'we won the gold medal' when you're watching the Olympics on tv
Also, while reading your post I mistook "English decent" for some sort of anthropological stock term before I realized you meant descent which was funny to me. i don't know why.
Adam- Its a shame that areas need to be policed by a few members of their own to keep people from ruining their own resources (the tragedy of the commons and all) and climbing has always had that problem but access is access. Have you ever climbed lake travis? If you like (incredibly cliched terminology coming up) deep water soloing, you can have a blast there, as long as you're careful where you bail off of.
