Why should cultures be kept 'pure'?

[United Republics of Antarctica]

They shouldn't be.


/thread

Spot on.

[Stanisburg]

Things I've learned:

Not only was Ayn Rand a total douchebag, but she was in the habit of stating strong opinions on subjects she knew nothing about, such as Native American culture. (Most of them were definitely not living in caves in 1492, and most tribes did believe in land ownership.)

Well, maybe I knew that already.

[Wikkiwallana]

Well 1st off I hope we all can agree

You've been here long enough to know better than that.

Edit: typo

[Xathranaar]

None of them are in any case. So the whole argument is moot.

[Wikkiwallana]

If your cultures aren't pure you should start over with a fresh petri dish and inoculate it *nod*

With you being the second one to say something like that, I wonder if there's something ambiguous about my question caused by some lack of language skills? ^^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun

[Menassa]

Survival.

It has worked, so far.

[NERVUN]

I've yet to encounter a culture that has not changed. In fact, unless said culture is somehow isolated from everyone else, it WILL change.

People are funny like that.

[Disserbia]

No culture is pure, an attempt to purify it makes it stagnate, makes it obsolete and will be it's downfall. There is a very valuable point to cultural conservatism though. Keep the basics, but keep up basically.

[Sulamalik]

Y'know we're all the same

Just people with different names

Who sometimes collide.

[Regnum Dominae]

Why do you assume that we think they should be kept "pure"?

[Puah-Puah Kepulauan]

Why do you assume that we think they should be kept "pure"?

I don't assume everyone to think that. In fact, I'm quite happy to see that most of the people who posted in this thread have the oppinion that cultural hybridity isn't something bad.

But all my life I made experience with people who thought that their culture mustn't be influenced. When I grew up in the German region of Bavaria, my family members, close friends of mine, classmates as well as (mostly conservative) politicians always expressed disrespect when foreigners expressed their cultural heritage. They considered it inappropriate when other people spoke Romanian in the super market, when there were two Turkish soccer clubs in the city, when a small cancert hall attracted punks from all the region, when the Muslim community asked for a bigger mosque or even when people from other German regions moved there to find some work. Now I moved to another region where anti-Islamism, agitation against asylum seekers and voting for nationalist parties became quite fashionable.

My general life experience is that many people - independet from sex, social standing and age, but dependent from their level of education and their political views - assume that something like a 'pure' culture would exist and that this culture has to be kept 'pure'. I can't say if they are more or less than half of the people I know, even less if they are the majority or minority of the whole society, but they weren't only singular cases or such a small group of people that you could say it'd be coincidence that I know that many of them. So this experience of mine lead me to the assumption that there are also some people on this forum who would claim that cultures should be kept 'pure'.

[Risottia]

...barroom chlichés like „In the Alps, a minaret mustn't be higher than a church spire!“ ...

Ohohoh, the Swiss bitching about keeping their culture "pure" against the immigrant humanwaves...

When
a) their own "traditional" culture is a mix of Celtic, Latin and Germanic cultures and languages, coupled with Semitic religions (as shown by their flag!)
b) they used to emigrate to the bordering countries, and came here to steal our Lombard jerbs!!!

They shouldn't be.
/thread

Actually, they can't be. There's no thing such as a pure culture.

[Pope Joan]

Although I cherish my undiluted Celtic blood, my mind tells me that hybrids are healthier. Look at animals which are bred to type; they tend to sickness and weakness, they are barely sustainable.

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/pedigree-dogs-exposed/

[Puah-Puah Kepulauan]

...barroom chlichés like „In the Alps, a minaret mustn't be higher than a church spire!“ ...

Ohohoh, the Swiss bitching about keeping their culture "pure" against the immigrant humanwaves...

It's not only a Swiss thing.

[Risottia]

Ohohoh, the Swiss bitching about keeping their culture "pure" against the immigrant humanwaves...

It's not only a Swiss thing.

Well, the minaret height limitation law is theirs.

Loltastic.

[Napkiraly]

Don't you think cultures that are intellectually, technologically, scientifically and morally superior have the right (and maybe even responsibility) to annihilate and replace inferior cultures?

Who determines which culture is morally superior.

[Wisconsin9]

Attempting cultural purity first requires a change in culture, thus rendering the point moot.

[Samuraikoku]

Don't you think cultures that are intellectually, technologically, scientifically and morally superior have the right (and maybe even responsibility) to annihilate and replace inferior cultures?

No.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

They shouldn't be.
/thread

Actually, they can't be. There's no thing such as a pure culture.

The closest was pre-Perry Japan, and even then there were a million things that seeped into their culture.