Morgan Pitelka; "Don't be judgemental..."

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Pitelka was a great speaker. His knowledge of the subject was only exceeded by his enthusiasm and joie de vivre. He did caution the class, though, that we shouldn’t judge Asian practices – like, for instance, foot binding – by Western standards. His idea, I believe, was that educators should keep an open mind, a kind of clinical detachment.

Although I know many teachers share this attitude, I’m not so sure. We certainly need to be open to hear historical facts and analysis clearly and with an unbiased ear, but if we believe, and can make a compelling case, that Western attitudes and practices are in some cases better (for mankind), are we doing our students, or for that matter, Asians in general, any favors by not expressing ourselves?

Universal equality and human dignity in the eyes of God -- or the universe, if you like -- is one of the greatest ideological gifts the Judeo-Christian Ethic has given to the world. Our cultural success in based on it, and its one of the main reasons the world, thusfar, has "voted with its feet" by immigrating en mass here and to the other Western nations. Should we petend that's not so?

There is much the many varied cultures of the world can teach each other, but not if we over-emhasize our supposed faults and soft-peddle the faults of others. We teachers must never forget that we're examples to our students, especially in judging the difference between right and wrong.

Rueben Gordon

[Anonymous]

In the hopes of starting a conversation regarding contemporary Chinese politics, let me suggest that there are many voices insisting that the spotlight of the coming Olympic games is having a salutary effect on the Chinese regime. Do you agree? Does the regime need to change?

rueben gordon

[Anonymous]

Update: President Bush has definitely committed to attending the opening ceremonies of the Oympics in Beijing. Should he?

rueben gordon
7/7/08

[Anonymous]

Update #2: The Japanese prime minister has also definitely committed to go to the opening Olympic ceremonies in Beijing. Given the history, past and recent, of China and Japan, this is a significant development. Again, is it good?

rueben gordon
7/7/08

[Anonymous]

Update #3: China, India and other nations "observing" at the Group of Eight meetings are scheduled to hold a summit on the sidelines of the session in Japan. Is this a case of the side summit being more important than the main meeting itself? Given the emergence of India and China on the world stage, is the Group of Eight configuration obsolete?

rueben gordon
7/7/08

[Anonymous]

Update, N. Korea: Six-nation talks regarding N. Korea's nuclear program are resuming. Does it matter? Is the damage already done?

rueben gordon

[Anonymous]

Update:

Is China suddenly a greater spy threat than normal to the U.S.? There has recently been an intensified interest in intelligence and law enforcement circles about the expanding breadth of these threats from Beijing. Prosecutors describe some of the new cases as carefully planned intelligence operations run by the Chinese government intended to steal national security secrets. Other cases, however, are less clear in their nature; some seem to be closer to violations of commercial export laws, with the transferred information intended to provide Chinese companies a technological benefit.

In one recent case, Chinese agents ran what intelligence professionals call a “false flag” operation on an unsuspecting weapons systems analyst, making him believe that the information he was providing was going to Taiwan, an American ally, not Beijing.

the salient questinos are: How serious are these new threats, and how will they affect Chinese/American relations?

rueben gordon

[Anonymous]

Update 2:

As per the N.Y. Times, military trainers at Guantanamo Bay taught an interrogation class based on communist Chinese torture techniques. Is this a net "plus" for our current relationship with China or not?

rueben gordon

[Anonymous]

This was also my favorite lecture. I thought this man's presentation was particularly interesting and he was a most knowlegable and enthusatic speaker. I also enjoyed the subject-matter, especially the parts about the foot binding practiced by Chinese women. I thought it was interesting the way he emphasized that this was a practice perpetuated by women for women. Foot binding was used by these women to prepare themselves for wealthy husbands, I guess that could happen in any society, at any time.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate your response, although I don't agree that footbinding "could happen at any society at any time." And that's the point; it's the DIFFERENCES in various cultures and societies that make them interesting and give humanity it's depth.

For example, it is unimaginable that footbinding could happen among the Biblical Hebrews. They considered their bodies "temples of God" and were forbidden to defile them in any way, even including tattoos (a restriction still practiced by most Jews -- and all orthodox Jews -- even today).

Should we be judgemental? I believe we should, so that a concensus of the MOST ENLIGHTENED practices by various cultures can be learned by others. Isn't that the definition of global progress?

rueben gordon

[Anonymous]

Well, let me clarify, self-beautification may not be exactly in the form of "foot-binding'" but it is a common practice in all societies to one extent or another, albeit in different forms. What I am saying is the speaker helped me to understand how this did happen in China. This understanding helped me to relate to these women and to not be judgemental. There is one culture you say, that does not practice self-beautification, maybe they are beyond all others in this way.

[Anonymous]

I don't want to get into a huge religious argument, but whacking off a large piece of a man's penis could be considered a defilement. Circumcision is not an easy decision, but I believe the "enlightened" medical opinion today is that it's not particularly beneficial. So should we advocate that the practice be discontinued among Jews?[Edit by="anicolai on Jul 16, 4:22:08 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Oh, I didn't say it was right or wrong, I simply said I understood how it could happen.

[Anonymous]

With all due respect, you seem to pride yourself on not being judgemental. Why? Isn't human judgement the very thing that separates us from the other animals. Being judgemental is not only good, but indispensible to human existance and continued survival.

rueben gordon

[Anonymous]

With sincere respect (and I really mean that because I heartily enjoy a robust debate), although I find your description of circumcision as "whacking off a large piece of a man's penis" a bit exagerated, at least you're being judgemental, and that's good. But again, with all due respect, I find that judgement, in this case, to be faulty. A truer analogy might be to compare circumcision to removing a hangnail, or even cutting one's nails or hair. The obvious difference between foot-binding and circumcision is that the latter doesn't effect the function of the penis, whereas the former renders its practioner (victim?) a cripple.

Furthermore, although male circumcision has been controversial since Biblical times, my understanding is that the latest medical consensus strongly supports the procedure. I've included in this post a recent study cited on MSNBC, which is similar to many other studies now and in the past. Although "New Age" wisdom has lately deemed it politically correct to "dis" male circumcision, numbers don't lie, and many now contend that Africa would not be suffering quite so horribly from its current AIDS pandemic if more African men were circumcized. Possibly, as with their health code for food preparation (Kosher laws), the Biblical Hebrews were right.

"Report: Male circumcision cuts AIDS risk
Study conducted on over 3,000 HIV-negative men
MSNBC
Male circumcision reduces the risk that men will contract HIV through intercourse with infected women by about 70 percent, according to a study reported in The Wall Street Journal.

After discovering the dramatic results, French and South African researchers halted the study about nine months in order to offer the uncircumcised men the opportunity to undergo the procedure, the newspaper reported.

The study was conducted on more than 3,000 HIV-negative South African men, ages 18 to 24. Half of the men were randomly selected to be circumcised while the other half remained uncircumcised.

After following the men for a year, the researchers found that for every 10 uncircumcised men in the study who became infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, only an estimated three circumcised men contracted the virus, the newspaper reported.

The study is considered significant because scientists have yet to discover an effective vaccine against the HIV virus or develop a reliable way to prevent infection other than through abstinence or safe-sex practices."

rueben gordon

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