Are you W.E.I.R.D.? (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) Me too. Yes, it's a real category.
Our enculturated brains are considered normal even though we are only 10-15% of the world population. This is because most psychological research is done on the University researcher's most convenient test subjects, college students. And almost exclusively in English speaking countries. Because our culture is uniquely curious about psychology, at least the scholarly study of the human mind.
As research has expanded, however, comparing minds from other cultures, it has become clear that we have been "culture blind." It's been said that you don't know any culture until you know a different culture, because we're blind to our own until we have something to compare it to.
The good news is that there's so much more to learn. But imagine all the false assumptions that we've made during the centuries of Western hegemony. Imagine all the wisdom lost as cultures are killed off, or absorbed by military, economic, or media forces. Imagine all the lives lost and enmity created as we blunder blindly into other lands in the name of justice, human rights, national security, expanding democracy. I guess that doesn't take too much imagining.
But even with all that, there's so much more to discover.
By the time I finish saying our writing almost anything, I'm always left thinking the same things, emphasizing the same values. And they are curiosity and humility. And slow down/wake up.
In relation to this post it's obviously curiosity and humility that I'm reminded of. I can't seem to imagine a scenario where these are not valuable characteristics. But maybe I'm universalizing. I am, after all, really W.E.I.R.D.
Our enculturated brains are considered normal even though we are only 10-15% of the world population. This is because most psychological research is done on the University researcher's most convenient test subjects, college students. And almost exclusively in English speaking countries. Because our culture is uniquely curious about psychology, at least the scholarly study of the human mind.
As research has expanded, however, comparing minds from other cultures, it has become clear that we have been "culture blind." It's been said that you don't know any culture until you know a different culture, because we're blind to our own until we have something to compare it to.
The good news is that there's so much more to learn. But imagine all the false assumptions that we've made during the centuries of Western hegemony. Imagine all the wisdom lost as cultures are killed off, or absorbed by military, economic, or media forces. Imagine all the lives lost and enmity created as we blunder blindly into other lands in the name of justice, human rights, national security, expanding democracy. I guess that doesn't take too much imagining.
But even with all that, there's so much more to discover.
By the time I finish saying our writing almost anything, I'm always left thinking the same things, emphasizing the same values. And they are curiosity and humility. And slow down/wake up.
In relation to this post it's obviously curiosity and humility that I'm reminded of. I can't seem to imagine a scenario where these are not valuable characteristics. But maybe I'm universalizing. I am, after all, really W.E.I.R.D.
