Daily Times

The changes wrought by the modern industrial society on social and societal norms and values has led to the decline of cultural individuality. Societies have either lost their cultural propriety, or have been integrated into other ones. The norms and values of the traditional world have already been compromised, and now we see before our very eyes, the norms and values of the modern world as they too are incarcerated.

In light of current events and all that has transpired in history, it is abundantly clear the hostile belief that one culture must perish in order for the others to survive, and even flourish. This cultural swing on the survival-of-the-fittest has been the narrative for a good long while, with several nations coming up as perpetrators at the hands of their perpetuation of a better culture—the superiority complex that does not waver from culture to culture, and has made possible these clashes over the course of the centuries. It has either been “be perished” or “be irrevocably changed”—it has been the case with Indian culture, when the British first arrived in the subcontinent during the seventeenth century, it has been the case with Native Americans, and today it is still very much the case.

This history of assimilations, brings to question the integrity of the practice; for the debate continues that neither side, especially not the assimilated one, is left unchanged. The perpetuation of the “superior” culture is but a sham when you acknowledge that the resulting exchange is a two-way process. And if the superior culture, too, is being altered as it is perpetuated, then what gives it supremacy? In fact, what is the basis of such a title? How must one decide, whether one culture is better, or the other? The arising conflict can thus be blamed on the need for comfort of the individual, who must be consoled that they in fact, are the better people, and the assimilated must rest assured that there will be no end to their misery, for formerly they were of the lacking cultures origin.

The comeuppance of the back and forth argument about the process of assimilation has given birth to the idea of Cultural Liberation, and has given rise to the possibility of the pluralistic world. As one knows, it has been proven by history that the best communities are those which have overcome their differences—the communities which have tried to reconcile their people and culture, and have tried to find middle ground. This proverbial middle-ground, where cultural specificities are intermingled, but not altered in a way to promote one culture over the other, is dubbed Cultural Liberation, and is said to be the way to future peace. The abolishment of the very concept of a superior culture, and everybody making the move towards a global culture, made of the values of all people, which is acceptable to all people, will surely result in the end of all related, and/or based conflicts among different societies and social structures world wide.

The proof of such a future can be seen in technological globalization, and the rise of a technology-based global culture. Of course, the variations within nations and societies still exist, and cultural differences, not yet sorted out, impede on the reality and possibility of the proposed venture, but the global solidarity of internet users worldwide cannot be ignored. Against all odds, the global web community have breached the threshold of the proverbial fourth wall, and have found the middle-ground between themselves across a psychologically heavenly encrypted space, that affords them safe haven from the antics of the rest of the world that has come to little consequences as it still tries to fly by on decades old norms and values they are not yet prepared to let go of.

The nature of the pluralistic world, should it rise in the boughs of today’s youth, fuelled by passion and the keen sense of humanity that seems to keep them going, can easily be predicted. It would be a harmonious wonderland, the likes of which would make even Karl Marx turn over in his grave with joy a couple times. In the modern age, we already see these young people venture into the streets to protest the rights of people they have recognized as their equals, a feat not accomplished—instead, actively denied—by their forefathers, whether it is Black Lives Matter, or Women’s Rights, or the fight against Islamophobia and Asian Hate. The probability of cultural liberation becoming a reality under their unlikely tutelage is higher than under any other circumstance. In fact, the achievement of the pluralistic world—in which all cultural identities will be able to meet and interact in a non-hostile environment without threat of incarceration, and be able to learn from each other, and grow as a global community—might very well be within our grasp. Now, it is only a matter of waiting.