Culture 'not a good excuse'
2010-02-15 08:39
It seems you can get away with anything these days by using culture as an excuse. And I'm getting sick of it.
It's time a lot of the world's anarcho-culturalists woke up to the 21st century and realised that some of the things they have dragged out of the past to flaunt today, just doesn't cut it any more.
History is full of examples of how ancient cultures have been adapted to fit in with modern civilisation so it's not asking for much really to ask those who cling so desperately to ancient rituals to join the rest of us in the 21st century.
And before all those over-sensitive watchdogs start calling me a racist because they think I am just picking on black culture, I am not.
I am also talking about those people in India who toss babies out of trees because they believe it will make tee kids more courageous.
There are literally thousands of barbaric rituals that still infest the world under the guide of "culture".
I am also talking about people who mix culture, religion and revenge into some sort of bizarre mish-mash that makes them believe that God expects you to kill anyone who doesn't agree with you.
I am talking about world leaders who have an ingrained culture of superiority that allows them to play policeman to the whole world and attack countries just because they are sitting on rich oilfields and might one day hold the world to ransom.
And yes, I am also talking about people who run through the streets in so-called peaceful protest brandishing spears and long sharp knives and then suggesting they are only "cultural weapons".
Some of my forebears were Scots and if I tried to run through the streets of Johannesburg wearing a kilt with no underwear, brandishing a broadsword I would be arrested in no time for crimen injuria and wielding a dangerous weapon in public.
So, just where does this cultural weapon thing start and end? Who gets to be able to use cultural weapons and who doesn't?
And yes, I am also talking about people who talk about wanting to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids and then feel nothing about sleeping around and having unprotected sex and being defended on the basis that "it is their culture".
Perhaps its time to form a National Independent Forum of Cultural Relevance - a sort of cultural constitutional court that can rule on what cultures should be protected and what sort of cultures simply don't belong in our modern world.
Frankly it's all getting out of hand and it would not surprise me if one of these days we start hearing car-hijackers claiming that what they're doing is not illegal but just part of their culture.
Already we have criminals claiming that they turn to crime because they can't get jobs and then going on TV to explain how they intend to increase their turnover by robbing World Cup visitors of their wallets and cellphones.
It won't be long before crime becomes a culture. Perhaps it is already. Just look at the Italian Mafia.
Already entitlement and having fun aboard gravy trains seem to be accepted as cultural activities by a lot of people these days.
Its time that the nanny states of the world stopped being so precious about giving criminals more rights than law abiding citizens and allowing so many insane "cultures" to flourish.
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