Cultural sensitivity

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  • May 31, 2008 at 3:33 am #5043
    Rob_Hugo@PortNW
    Keymaster

    The recent comment by a popular actress, Sharon Stone, about the earthquake in China being karma for the treatment of Tibet is culturally insensitive. This past week, I posted a comment about a Time magazine article which suggested the same idea in a manner that may be considered more politically correct. So the question is whether Ms. Stone’s comment was culturally insensitive, politically incorrect, or both? Bill Maher hosted a show in the 90s, “Politically Incorrect.” If you ever watched this show, then you know what is politically incorrect when you hear it.

    When I posted my commentary on the Time’s article, I originally referred to the earthquake as divine intervention rather than a natural disaster based on my interpretation of the article. My focus was on the Chinese government’s mandate from heaven relative to its lack of respect for human rights. But after re-reading my commentary a few times before posting it, I realized that the use of divine intervention was presumptuous and therefore offensive. Who am I to suggest what God or the gods are doing? I attribute my heightened level of cultural sensitivity, and that I am even able to openly acknowledge my err now, to the East Asian seminar. The fact that I was able to reflect on my own reflection, metacognition, is the direct result of this seminar. My hope is that I will be able to pass this on to my students in the future.

    Valerie

    June 1, 2008 at 3:59 am #29063
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Au contaire, Valerie. I think your response was very "Chinese"...albeit not from the central government's point of view, or the Han nationalists' view of of a "greater China".

    When someone sneezes and we say "gesundheit" or "God bless you", expressions which go back to medieval times, it does not literally mean you are telling the person you are happy "bad spirits" are leaving a person' body...its just a cultural expression. But in the case of China the central government is very much aware of the people's understanding of 'God's will' or as ther Chinese would put it "the Mandate of Heaven".

    The central government very much subscribes to, consciously or unconsciously, the view of "the Mandate of Heaven". That is why they were very upset when the bad weather impeded the return of families to their homes around the Lunar New Year... And now the earthquake in Sichuan.

    "...The chief Chou diety, identified them with the Shang Ti of their predecessors, was T'ien [tien]. T'ien came to mean "Heaven", but was obiviously anthropomorphic in origin, being written with a character that was originally a rough sketch of man. The Chou kings called themselves "Son of Heaven", and they justified their conquest of the Shang on ther grounds that theyt had received the "Mandate of Heaven". ["East Asia: the Great Tradition" Fairbank, et al. 1960...pp. 49-50; our more 'modern' text ,"East Asia...", Ebrey et al. has no listing in the index for Mandate of Heaven.]

    Meng Tzu [Mencius] took the Chou argument and developed it into the more general concept that the ruler could only stay in power if he had the support of the populace...He would lose the "Mandate' if a rebellion succesfully overthrew his rule. Dissatisfaction leading to rebelllion would usually begin with the central government not being able to take care of the effects of great natural disasters. This became the justification for rebellion or the right to revolution, ge ming. The ruler would lose the "Tian Ming" or "Mandate of Heaven".

    So,..Valerie far from being 'culturally insensitive' you were being very culturally perceptive...just not from the central authorities point of view...more from the Tibetians point of view...which is the big point of contention between China and Tibet over the last 50 years.

    Michael

    June 5, 2008 at 12:04 pm #29064
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Well, while I may not agree with the actions of the Chinese government concerning human rights, my cultural sensitivity is concerning the rest of the Chinese people, Tibetans, and anyone else whom I may have offended by denouncing their faith while intending to denounce the actions of the government. Intentions may be good, but not always made clear, and therefore not clearly understood.

    In retrospect, I realized that it was more important to respect the right of the Chinese people to believe in whoever and whatever they choose, rather than bundle their faith with the actions of the Chinese government. It is American to respect the beliefs of others, not Chinese, even if you do not agree with their beliefs. In my opinion, this is an example of cultural sensitivity, one that I myself was reminded of. A person assumes a position of superiority when that person makes a comment about another’s culture, then is told that the comment is offensive, and then proceeds to argue with the person from that culture that the comment is not offensive. This is the position I choose not to be in, as did Sharon Stone who later apologized for her comment. I think the word I am searching for is…empathy…which is something that I continue to remind my students we can all use a little more of.

    Valerie

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