Living Together

Think about the people you know in school or in your neighborhood who have diverse backgrounds and beliefs. Do you think cultural differences can enrich a community? Why or why not? If so, how do they enrich the community? How do people from different cultures learn to live together?

Cultural differences do enrich a community, yes; it provides a mix of different and unique cultures under the imprint of one community, and it encourages people to develop inter-cultural relationships. Unfortunately, though,  cultural differences tend to lead to serious clashes and problems, and the ultimate idealistic goal of all people regardless of nation getting along together is close to impossible.

From what I learned from a brief (14 page) introduction to the Psychology of War, people tend to choose to be with others who are like them; hence, cultural segregation exists naturally. This is prominent in different situations, but the most unbiased and common situation is the cliques that usually form in High Schools. This social phenomenon occurs, to my belief, because as people our nature holds a certain contempt towards those who are "different".

There are a variety of factors that are involved in this, however, such as historical context; the different cultures of Jews and Palestinians have never, and probably will never, live together in harmony because of their controversial history. In addition, the African Americans have been prejudiced for centuries, and many of them still need to work hard to make themselves respected among others.. This point is even more illustrated when the white settlers forced the Native Americans off their land.

Ultimately, it is because of the fact that we cannot totally accept another culture that living together will never be easy. When you do not view the other culture with respect, they will become isolationist and in turn shut themselves off from you. This "stalemate" of two or more secluded groups viewing the others in contempt is probably the most tense situation you can get, for it only takes a spark to light the fuse (as illustrated in the film  "The Freedom Writers", where the students are split between individual gangs formed from those of different nationalities). The isolation of a particular group in response to prejudice is also worth thinking about; they sometimes rear up against the bigots, when in reality they themselves are also being intolerant of them.

Because people cannot accept the culture or beliefs of another, this makes politics very tiresome and irksome as well. There is such a clear divide between the beliefs that a democracy is almost impossible. This is the case in Taiwan; I personally support the KMT, who are mostly descended from those who followed Chiang-Kai  Shek to Taiwan, whereas the opposition DPP party are affirmed with the Taiwanese locals. Due to the history of Taiwan, the two groups have always been quite wary of the other, and their clear distinctions has rendered a bipartisan agreement impossible (for this reason I seriously doubt the promises of democracy in Taiwan).

Another example I want to bring up is inter-racial marriage. To place it lightly, they usually don't turn out well. This is because there is one person of the two who cannot totally accept the culture of the other (a clear example would be the young couple who almost divorced in the movie "The Joy-Luck Club").

But does this mean I am against a multicultural community? Not at all. In my philosophy, people of different cultures need to be able to live together in harmony. I myself have nothing against different cultures, but I respect them all the same. The main problem though, is the psychology of man; the tendency to push people who are different away and stick with those who are the same. To live together though, one thing needs to be achieved (as idealistic as it is). People need to learn to respect the beliefs of others and understand their culture, while at the same time retaining their own cultural beliefs. It is possible. When everyone has their own cultures, but realizes at the same time that everyone else is still human and worthy of respect, then we can bes seen as a race that is united, but individually unique.