

Cultural Imperialism, Technology, and OLPC - absconditus
http://blog.ianbicking.org/2009/01/14/cultural-imperialism-technology-and-olpc/

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patio11
Ahh, cultural imperialism. I have a cultural studies degree and am not
unfamiliar with the term. Want a sentence guaranteed to start a riot with
anyone who cites it approvingly?

"The discourse of 'cultural imperialism' is a device by which Western
academics reify the continued material subjugation of the Other to flatter
their own epistemologies."

(That isn't meaningless twaddle, incidentally -- it is a serious critique
phrased in academic English common to such critiques. The lay version is "Rich
white academic liberals use poor people as human subjects in a petting zoo to
provide the authenticity they think their own culture lacks, all the while
blind to the fact that their own culture is in fact rich-white-academic-
liberal and it depends on having a poor-people-petting-zoo.")

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nopassrecover
It confuses me that anyone can believe that liberalism or technological
advance are not universally desirable. I am similarly confused (though
interested) by the "prime directive" approach that academics often advocate in
dealing with undeveloped cultures.

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patio11
_It confuses me that anyone can believe that liberalism or technological
advance are not universally desirable._

You want a quick sampling of various theories? (I should point out that I
don't believe everything I've read, if it wasn't totally obvious from my first
comment.)

Liberalism is a myth that the West uses when it needs a convenient excuse for
a war and/or resource exploitation.

Cultural diversity is groovy. (Sometimes phrased as: cultural diversity, like
ecological diversity, is imperative to the physical survival of the human
race.) Introduction of "foreign" technology inevitably results in culture
loss.

Technological advance sometimes results in taking the old evil things and
making us much, much better at them. See: ultrasounds in China, radios in
Rwanda, railroads in the United States, civil engineering in Iraq, the cotton
gin in the American South, etc etc

On balance, I think most technological progress is a great thing. I might not
be quite a booster if I had been kidnapped by a rival tribe to be sold across
the ocean into slavery because some American inventor had figured out how to
make cotton farming scale. And I don't think I would be that persuaded to
change my mind just because a lot of people were finally able to purchase
cotton shirts due to the deal.

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nopassrecover
Thanks.

Fortunately, in collaboration liberalism and technological advance avoid some
of the pitfalls you talk about.

I agree that liberalism isn't practiced widely enough or honestly enough, but
this isn't a fault with liberalism.

The cultural diversity argument is weak. From a pragmatic viewpoint, if this
diversity was imperative to survival then it would itself survive the
influence of other culture. Secondly, culture can and is incorporated (albeit
selectively although this may be a good thing) into rapidly developing
cultures. If cultural homogeneity means we lose cannibalism, ritual and
religious mutilation and millions of children dying to smoke inhalation each
year then I can live with that. I think the good and distinct components of
undeveloped cultures will be embraced by developed cultures and cherished by
the developing cultures themselves.

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danbmil99
dudes, it's a dog-eat-dog world. The strong are supposed to subsume the weak.

If you don't like it, I suggest you change Human Nature. Good luck with that.

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gaius
Always has been, always will be:

"For of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a law of their nature
wherever they can rule, they will"

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melian_dialogue>

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zcrar70
Nice quote

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mgenzel
On that subject, an absolutely must-read book is "Hard To Be God" (by
Strugatsky; <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_to_Be_a_God> ), an absolutely
brilliant meditation on the whole Prime Directive issue (basic thesis: it's
harder to bring in positive influence than it seems, thus the title)

