In light of yesterday’s posting, there needs one more addressing of cultural conformity, even though that could be a year-long topic.  But perhaps one of the worst forms of conformity is when a culture allows an ugly thing like racism to become not only a reality, but an accepted one (if even naively by the majority).

Let it be said, that it is nearly impossible to not view others as different from ourselves. After all, our eyes can visually see that there are many different things in our world.  If we could not see the difference in things, how would we function?

More specifically though, the human mind is made to compartmentalize. 

We must compartmentalize culture and certain cultural characteristics in order to have a predictable structure that can guide us through the circumstances of life, and this allows us to survive with more efficiency.  Yet, in compartmentalizing there are stereotypes that come out of that predictable structure we create in our minds and as a result, we often end up supporting narrow definitions of people.  

In America, while we have made slavery illegal and tried to make equal opportunities for all people, the fact remains that our cultural roots have yet to be entirely transformed, and racism and cultural conformity have been tagged together to create a situation we all need to continue to combat.

If you would, take a few minutes and watch this clip of a documentary called “Blue-Eyed” of Jane Elliott who has made it her life goal to make people aware of on-going discrimination (the remaining clips have been linked as well if you wish to continue viewing - in total, the documentary is 90 minutes).

 (part 1 below)

(parts: 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 )

Some very poignant concepts here. . .why did no one stand up in that room? A variety of reasons for sure, but cultural conformity is a key pillar of it.

As Elliott later states (twice actually), the problem with conformity is that
“The only thing necessary for the perpetuation of evil is to do nothing.” Yet at the heart of it, few truly believe that their race is actually “better” than another, yet at the same time, many actually live their lives in the face of what they believe, even if naively.

Many questions remains:  Fow what do we do with a concept like race? For at the very same time it is part of the mental process to compartmentalize so we understand our world, we also support stereotypes and misconceptions.  Meanwhile, there is also the fact that people very much value their culture/“race” and often find a source of identity within it.  Behavior stems from assumed cultural values.  So as people live out their culturally-influenced behavior, they often do so out of the need for stability and identity, but also with some consistent patterning, which then reinforces that cultural characteristic stereotyping (good, bad or neutral) to the observer. 

How do we then balance the positive and negative attributes of cultural/racial characterizing?

One thing is for sure. . .we need to stop pretending that racial tensions do not exist.  Ignoring the problem does not solve the problem. . .We must be honest, sincere, and compassionate with each other as we talk about our differences and try to genuinely understand each other.

We need to destroy comfort zones.  Don’t just tolerate or “mingle” with people who are different than you.  Befriend people of other cultures and races, and not simply for the sake of being racially tolerant, but do so with the understanding that while there are differences between people, including racial/cultural, they are minute in the grand scheme of things and that we are all part of the human race, bottomline.  After all, is not the human race the race that matters above all other social categories? To have a non-racist mentality is good, but rarely does it mature fully until you make mentality a reality by actually being whole-heartedly involved in the lives of others.

There are hundreds if not thousands (or more!) of ways in which we need to combat cultural conformity, or at least the ugliness of it that is sometimes brought about.  We are all part of this world and all part of culture.  Culture is created and shaped by people, and it is up to people, us, to recreate and reshape culture when it has gone astray.

 Ultimately, humanity is something to be celebrated, in all its nuances.  In the end, we all need to search deeply, think deeply and relate deeply.

- IgniteTheMind