Cultural Slavery

As a British Asian who arrived in England at the age of seven, I have asked myself, where do I belong?  It is not easy to answer this question, even for those who never leave their place of birth. Where you live, and the culture that surrounds you, will affect you. It will shape your opinions and thinking, until you are also part of the cultural identity of that place.

Some people call that good citizenship, and I suppose from a law-abiding standpoint, this is true. However, I wonder if this also creates injustice and inequality. Does it create a need to hide your true self? I do not know the answer to this, and perhaps the debate is far larger than this article.

Like many people, I watch television, and I watch the adverts. If you are unfortunate enough to be a bit of an insomniac, you will know that late night television is full of ads. These ads tell us what we need in our lives, anything from a miracle-cleaning product, to a Russian divers watch. Unless you are a Russian diver, I don’t think you really need the watch.

My concern is. Does the media, with its constant barrage of adverts, try to define us? I can see from these ads that it tries to sell the idea, that we all need the same things to make us happy. Through these ads, many of which are global, the subliminal message is, buy this product and you will be part of something bigger. Let us call it, a flattening of the cultural divide through retail. Surely, we cannot all need the same things. A person in New York or London will buy a water filter for his taps, or faucets, while a person in an African village simply needs water.

Then I asked. Does an untouchable Hindu have the same cultural aspirations as a Brahmin, a high class Hindu? Even if they did, would the Hindu culture allow an Untouchable to climb the social and career ladder? My feeling is. The Hindu culture might be too stuck in its ways to allow change.

The Chinese civilization, to our knowledge, is over 3000 years old. This nation had a culture that survived right up until Puyi, the last emperor, left the Forbidden City, in 1924. That is not to say the culture was right or fair. The following thought crossed my mind: are the Chinese right in trying to recreate China in the image of the west? Currently there are more than 60 million empty properties, and 50 ghost towns in China. Most Chinese people cannot afford to live in these places, and I wondered if they would prefer to live a simpler village life, rather than in these high-rise cities.

On 9th October 2012, a gunman shot Malala Yousafzai as she rode home on a bus after an exam in Pakistan. She was 15 years old when the gunman shot her. This took place, because a young Pakistani girl wanted an education. Something as basic as education created a cultural rift. Malala Yousafzai is a Nobel Prize winner, and is able to stand up for what she believes. However, I wonder how many women die because they have stepped over the cultural rules of their society. 

The bigger question is: how many people in the world feel enslaved or trapped by their culture? I ask myself, does culture create more barriers than it removes? In many ways, I think it does create barriers. These barriers live and grow in our minds, and our cultural fears nourish them and shape our thinking.

There is good and bad in all cultural identities, and as intelligent people, we have to decide what defines us, and what we are happy to accept without feeling guilty. To follow the rules of a culture with blind faith is to create intolerance, a lack of new ideas, and ultimately, live a life of cultural slavery.

This short poem tries to express the key elements of this article:

Arrive in England in the chill of winter,
The cold feels like a sub-zero splinter,
The lights at Heathrow shine bright,
My frozen face only shows fright.

London is full of strange places.
People wrapped up, cold grey faces.
Frost twinkles and dances on the street.
The icy cold penetrates my feet.

Years go by and I adapt.
The culture doesn’t feel apt.
Who am I in this place?
I fit in, but I feel no grace.

Twilight TV plays on my screen.
Do I really need this skin cream?
Should I buy a reclining chair?
What’s wrong with the one I have here?

I am an untouchable waiting in line.
I can do the job. I hope I’ll be fine.
Young man, your name is Harijan,
I am sorry but the job has gone.

Chinese farmer sits on the sixth floor.
There’s no greenery outside his door.
I miss the warm embrace of my fields.
Concrete surrounds me like riot shields.

I am a girl I want to learn.
My own money I want to earn.
Is it wrong to want to read?
Why was I shot, why did I bleed?

Does culture try to define all of us?
Why is there so much fears and fuss?
Wait for cultures to become kind and calm,
Then we can stop the hurt and harm.