I happen to share Yrjo and Phillip's concern. I also happen to
be an American. Cognitive dissonance compels me to (a) renounce
my citizenship (b) change my attitude and embrace this American
solution (c) place in doubt the veracity of those who label it
such.
Martin R.
On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, Phillip Capper wrote:
> Yrjo's point was my original one. What I have observed over the past
> few days is a cross-cultural issue sliding rapidly into a
> monocultural (American) solution finding process. The very process now embarked upon
> excludes and alienates people like me.
>
> My original point (perhaps not made clearly enough) was that if
> cross-cultural environments such as this, the only way of being
> inclusive is for each individual to take responsibility for
> monitoring their own assumptions and reactions and locating them in
> their own cultural context. Imposing 'rules' and 'processes' on
> others cannot achieve the object of mutual respect and courtesy
> in any open community (or any community at all, actually).
> Only recognising that my own responses are culturally situated and
> checking out the other's meaning and context before reacting can
> achieve that.
>
> If there are people who want an xmca which operates according to
> American cultural and linguistic norms and within the nuances of
> American socio-political discourse, why not just say so? Then the
> rest of us, together with those Americans who enjoy and value
> cultural and lingustic diversity, can go off and play together
> somewhere else.
>
> Let me check something out. Given that in this debate many
> non-Americans and, indeed, many Americans, have pointed out in
> various ways what I have just asserted, and that none of those posts
> have influenced in the slghtest way what has subsequently happened,
> am I to assume that others DO want a list that operates only in a
> North American context? Or is it simply that some people simply do
> not understand that other contexts exist and therefore find
> contributions such as mine to be gibberish? Or do many believe that
> there are some superordinate cultural and linguistic norms that have
> precedence over and an existence independent of any specific cultural
> context? Or is it that I am the one who perceives all this as
> gibberish because there is a perfectly sensible point that I have
> missed because of my own inadequate understanding of American modes
> of expression?
>
> Phillip Capper
> Centre for Research on Work, Education and Business (WEB Research)
> PO Box 2855
> 9th Floor 142 Featherston Street
> Wellington
> New Zealand
>
> Phone: (64) 04 499 8140
> Mobile: 021 251 9741
> Fx: (64) 04 499 8395
>
> phillip.capper@webresearch.co.nz
>
>
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