Sunday, March 07, 2010

Born Un-Special

“To really understand another culture, to really understand a country, you have to be born there.”

This kinda talk really bites my ass. I've lived in Turkey now for 15 years and I get it. I didn't use to get it, but now I do. Nearly all of it. And next year, it'll be nearly-nearly all of it. You don't have to be 'born' anything. Human is human is human. We all think about the same shit, and say the same shit. When I didn't speak or understand Turkish very well, I would wander about thinking "Ooh everyone is saying very deep clever stuff, and I'm a doofus because I can't understand it." Then when I could understand, I understood that they had just been talking about tits the whole time.

Of course they'd made the same mistake with me, except I talk a lot more with my hands, so they twigged I was just talking about tits much sooner.

There is no such thing as a concept that cannot be transmitted cross-culture. (Arrgh, double-negative).

Same with the whole "It's an art, you’ve either got it or you haven’t.” schtick. It's not. Even art isn't an art.

There is no behaviour or technique that cannot be replicated by another. (Arrgh, another double negative).

The position of "X is an art - you've either got it or you haven't" is damaging I feel because of the implications. Basically - it implies not only that it's an either/or situation with no middle ground, but also - if you haven't got it - you never will. A - "Hey you, you ain't no Mozart, so drop the violin, back away. Abandon all hope n00b" - kinda feel. It imposes a static view of individuality upon humanity by making the property of 'having it' or 'not having it' innate and immutable.

When you expand this view you get a rather bleak picture of the world.

...Continued...