Not All Cultures Are Equal

I like food from lots of different cultures: practically anything with a lot of fresh (or simply prepared) fruits and veggies and simple grilled or roasted meat, poultry, fish or shrimp. There are lots of ways of coming up with variety of flavors and styles using those basic requirements: Tex-Mex, Italian, Asian, Indian, French provincial, Greek, etc. We have an extraordinary variety here in the Bayou City, with more authenticity than we find in other domestic cities we’ve spent time in. (My guess is you can get this variety in NYC, but I haven’t done more than drive through, many years ago.)

It’s hard to pick a favorite. I’m used to American food, but chicken-fried steak with thick gravy and potatoes along with canned green beans just won’t sit well with me. (Nothing at McDonalds or most fast foods, with the exception of salads, meets my personal cuisine culture either.) American culture is a mix of other cultures, so we probably combine handed-down food ideas with other cultures several times a week, and sometimes in the same meal.

So I’m not saying one cuisine is better than all others, only that I require that general freshness and healthfulness from my food, whatever the cultural heritage.

Similarly, there are particular rules for civilization that lead to thriving culture. That is not to say that certain flavors are better than all others. But it is true that not all cultures lead to thriving culture. Thriving requires a freely religious people, who are honest and family oriented. (See the civilization section of Spherical Model.)

Yesterday I read a piece by Victor Davis Hanson, where he dared to state the politically incorrect fact that not all cultures are equal. His words:

I lived in Greece for over two years and often travel to northern and Mediterranean Europe and North Africa. While I prefer the Peloponnese to the Rhineland, over the years I have developed an unscientific and haphazard—but often accurate—politically incorrect method of guessing whether a nation is likely to be perennially insolvent and wracked by corruption.

Do average passersby throw down or pick up litter? After a minor fender-bender, do drivers politely exchange information, or do they scream and yell with wild gesticulations? Is honking constant or sporadic? Are crosswalks sacrosanct? Do restaurant dinners usually start or wind down at 9 P.M.? Can you drink tap water, or should you avoid it? Do you mostly pay what the price tag says, or are you expected to pay in untaxed cash and then haggle over the unstated cost? Are construction sites clearly marked and fenced to protect pedestrians, or do you risk walking into an open pit or getting stabbed by exposed rebar?

To put these crude stereotypes more abstractly, is civil society mostly moderate, predicated on the rule of law, and meritocratic — or is it characterized by self-indulgence, cynicism, and tribalism?

The answers to these questions do not hinge on race, money, or natural wealth, but they do involve culture and the way average people predictably live minute by minute.

I think we can even ask these questions about our own cities and regions, or even neighborhoods. Maybe we need to start by asking some of them about our own homes, and move out from there—which is the way a thriving culture grows.

I read one other item about culture this morning. This is from Facebook; a friend posted a letter from an emergency room doctor. I don’t know the original source, but I'm including the doctor's name as given.

During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ring tone.

While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"!

During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.

And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses.

Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based on the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me."

Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,

Starner Jones, MDDuring my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ring tone.

While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"!

During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.

And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses.

Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based on the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me."

Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

His point is that the health care “crisis” can in large part be solved by changing our culture. If we look at many other “crises,” we might find far more solutions in cultural change than in political tinkering.