Posted by BR on February 04, 2001 at 21:45:53:
In Reply to: Re: Yes, you do if........ posted by Calliope on February 03, 2001 at 19:30:00:
: : Young lady, I think you have an attitude problem. God bless your husband. You have a very serious misunderstanding of what a culture consists of. What you deem "old fashioned" is merely a part of the Greek culture. It's a pity your Greek husband did not explain this to you.
Yes, but even culture must evolve. Are you that ethnocentric to believe that the Greeks are the only culture that has ever had these types of tradtions/restrictions. The truth be know that most every Western and Eastern Culture at one point or another has made attempts to keep a families ethnicity "claen and pure", and they have used a number of tools, primarily religion, to acomplish this.
A classic example of this would be the Puritans who came to America. In a lot of ways the Puritans are very similar to Greeks in terms of cultural restrictions.
This type of nationalism and ethnocentricsm invariably winds up hindering the individual which in turn stunts the growth of the culture. In an isolationist world, that would not really be a problem, you are only measeured relative to your own speed. We do not live in an isolationist world. We are measured by the growth and progress of others all aroudn the world. It is hardly forward thinking to accept the power of free and independant thought. Countless millions have died for that right and the right to act upon it. Yes it is correct to say "old fashioned", it is correct to look down upon it. The United States is not the most powerful nation in the world becuase individual cultures decided it was better to isolate themselves within it. It became that way because people of many different backgrounds came together and made it that way. This was possible due to the lack of a nationalist religion, this is due to the freedom which is afforded to each and every one of us. I pity those who still live in a household where there word means little or nothing because of their "place" in the heirarchy. A culture which not only condones, but supports the idea that a 27 year old man should live at home with his parents because he is not married, is not an evolved culture.
Its a pity that your Greek family never explained your inalienable human rights that God gave to you.
BR