Tolerance

Okay. I am going to try to tackle a very thorny topic that I have been caught in the middle of ever since arriving in Thailand. surrounded as I have been by so many very different views of culture, it's been difficult to find my bearings. But now that I've had time to gain some understanding of the situation and reflect a bit I think I'm brave enough for a blog attempt. Not sure how successful it will be, but here goes. Disclaimer: this is likely to turn into a long, unorganized rant.

I've just finished reading a very thought-provoking book called "Why the Rest Hates the West," by historian Meic Pearse. It's a bit dense a times, and I had a couple of quibbles with it, but for the most part it really struck true to the cultural conflict I've been witnessing/experiencing here. I highly recommend it.

I guess if I could simplify the situation here, it would be that I feel caught in the middle of three different worldviews. 1) Traditional Thai culture (which is really a collection of traditional Asian cultures). 2) Evangelical Christian culture (by which I mean both Protestants and Catholics engaged in some sort of ministry work over here). 3) Contemporary secular Western culture (by which I mean postmodern liberalism, or would that be liberal postmodernism?).

Now it's an interesting thing. I've sensed a lot of hostility from Westerners here who aren't Christian towards anyone who is here participating in Christian missions. I've mentioned this before. My very job title makes for awkward social interactions. I've become very careful in my responses when people ask me what I do. I usually say I teach English, or volunteer at Payap. If I indiscriminately said "I'm a Christian volunteer" not only would people have no idea what that meant, it would automatically put up a huge wall of prejudices and assumptions between me and them. Oh, one of those. Over here destroying the lovely traditional culture and infringing on people's lives.

But then here is the interesting thing. It is my perception that people who don't like Christians are just as passionate about social change as Christians are. It's just a different type of social change, based of course on different values. And this is where it gets tricky. The professor teaching the gender and sexuality class I was auditing is a perfect example. This guy was an adherent to cultural relativism and postmodern thought. "The best you can hope for is to find your own truth and at the same time be respectful of the truths which others hold." Now for those of you who didn't take Core 250 at Whitworth (and may I just say THANK YOU WHITWORTH for the Core program and for a truly awesome and well-rounded education!) postmodernism is (according to this guy) the absence of any core principle. It is the assertion that nobody has the monopoly on truth. That truth is relative. The absence of any core principle therefore becomes, ironically, the core principle of pluralism and diversity. Ironic, isn't it. Because unfortunately, as Meic Pearse astutely observes, you simply cannot exist without some sort of core principle. The very act of stating "I don't believe in core principles" is, in itself, a core principle! It is so hard to explain this to people. If I ran the universe, every school would be required to teach logic and ethics, which are ironically the two courses I most regret not taking at Whitworth.

Now, the hallmarks of the postmodern camp seem to be the principles of tolerance, diversity and cultural relativism. The really great thing about this is that if you try and disagree with these things, you set yourself up to be perceived as racist, sexist, closed-minded and ignorant. But the problem is, not all cultures are created equal. They just aren't. And if you want to say otherwise then why not don a swastika and start saying "Heil Hitler"? Okay, to be fair, that is exactly the type of thing cultural relativists are trying to avoid. After all, the Nazi platform was based partly in the idea that German culture was somehow superior. But this is where we have to be careful. Because by leaping from "making value judgments on cultures is bad" to "therefore we have no right to make value judgments," we automatically end up without any values. We throw out the baby with the bathwater. If I can't condemn certain cultural practices as wrong, why should I care about social change? If you say "I believe in tolerance because I support human rights," well, why support human rights?  Cultural relativists get caught up in the idea of "who are you to impose your values upon others? Why do you think your values are better?" The funny thing is I could very easily ask them the same question. And I know they have good answers. But those answers won't be based on the ridiculous idea that all truths are created equal. My point is that postmodern thought and the idea that all cultural practices are good actually makes very little sense. The statement "truth is relative" negates the very meaning of the word "truth."

To quote Pearse "Tolerance has been radically redefined. Originally it meant that two people (or groups or institutions) that were divided by hard, nonnegotiable differences refrained from oppressing one another on account of it. Now it has come to mean dogmatic agnosticism about all truth claims and moral questions, with any dissent from it hounded at every turn." Unfortunately, Christians give members of this camp too many legitimate reasons for criticism. We do impose our own culture on others. It's often unintentional, or with good intentions, but it happens. so we're left with the rather funny situation of two opposing camps of Westerners hurling insults at each other while trying to "fix" the non-West.