Comments on: Damn your culture

By: Mike Gogulski

Mike Gogulski — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:28:09 +0000

@Mel: You’re right, and I could have phrased things better to point out that distinction. It’s the relativism that’s the problem… well, besides the pure evil which lurks at the heart of some/most of the damnable cultural artifacts I mentioned.

Thanks for stopping by!

By: BroadSnark

BroadSnark — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:18:19 +0000

I’m quite sick of people using “culture” to justify hatred, prejudice, and insularity. Although it is usually the people who loathe the idea of multiculturalism who I tend to have the most problems with. That said, I do see your point. There is a certain moral relativism that some people embrace along with their multiculturalism. But many of those people also embrace a universal human rights framework that limits the moral relativism to some extent.

By: Mike Gogulski

Mike Gogulski — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:46:25 +0000

Lynx,

Without agreeing with Kropotkin or admitting the communal-property ideal, I do recognize that society is necessary as you describe.

What I hold to be collectivism is a moral outlook which subordinates the individual to the group. I hold the liberty of the individual as the greater value.

By: lynx

lynx — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:53:54 +0000

you had me right up to “Damn your culture when it sings the praises of collectivism.”

if by “collectivism” you mean the recognition of the fact that no human being can own the earth – or any part of it – because none of us created it and that the common heritage of humanity (as kropotkin put it) belongs to all of humanity, then damn you for rejecting collectivism.

and if you’re using “collectivism” as a catch-all term for authoritarianism then damn you for your sloppy and misleading definitions.

we are social beings, just as the group (collective) is nothing without individual self-actualization, individuals are incapable of self-actualizing in isolation. Collectivism and individualism are not opposed, they are two halves of the same process.

otherwise, I’m with you.

By: andar909

andar909 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:45:35 +0000

hi, andar here, i just read your post. i like very much. agree to you, sir.