So once again I have these incomplete but somehow related thoughts
in my head. Think of a monkey swinging from branch to branch. Barely grabbing
hold of a branch before letting go to grab another, moving through the trees so
fast that's it’s almost impossible to keep your eyes on him. That's how I jump
from thought to thought some days, to different kinds of trees. And in the
dense forest, where all these trees grow, they touch each other, their branches
reaching deep into those of their neighbour.
Did I just call myself a monkey?
Moving right along. On the point of culture.
Imagine cavemen. Now I don't know much about cavemen but just
imagine that to cavemen the polite thing to do when greeting was to sniff each
other. And if you detect a strong body odour perhaps it's testimony to
how hard they work to fend for their families. So being smelly would be a good
thing and sniffing each other might be a sign of respect, acknowledging the
smelly one's hard work.
So along comes upperty European person who sees this greeting,
gets sniffed and is most disgusted by these barbaric and uncultured
cavemen.
However imagine how slanted the proud cavemen must feel when this
ridiculous looking, pompously rude pale creature refuses to greet them with
respect by sniffing them. I suspect they would find him as lacking in culture
as he did them.
I know this might be an elaborate and ridiculous example, but my
point was merely that your culture isn't "culture". Because my tongue
does more “rah” than “raaar,” does not mean I lack culture. I simply don't fit
with your notion of culture.
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