Ethnocentrism

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Are you every bit as upset by ethnocentrism, and its exclusionary aspects, as I am?

Or do you think ethnocentrism is really quite OK?

It's natural and healthy to believe that one's own culture and traditions are important to you. Anything else is Guardianista thinking.

It's what the right-wing have been using to say that racism is all right, so no. It's not all right at all.

What absolute nonsense. If it's wrong for people who live in the UK, pay taxes in the UK, have UK citizenship, shop in the UK, watch UK television, eat UK cuisine... it's racist to see the UK as the centre of people's core beliefs?

What rubbish.

ZOMG bad Tequila! Bet you're brimming with -isms and steeped in privilege.

Er, and yeah, I agree with your sentiment. Of course people are usually going to assess other cultures relative to their own. Even for a person who is a paragon of objectivity the one culture they will have most information on is their own which will often make it the most meaningful choice for comparison.

Having your country as the centre of your core beliefs, per se, is not what I had in mind.

Having your country as the centre of your core beliefs, while excluding all other beliefs, is what I had in mind.

Well, I enjoy foreign cultures and cuisines - much more so than many of my peers - but they sure as hell are not superior to mine in my own country, thanks.

I'm not sure what everyone is talking about here. So I'll just say that the instances where minorities are forced to conform to the majority culture do not sit right with me. Someone I know who is from South America was speaking Spanish to a friend of hers out on the street, and some random woman started harassing them saying they should speak English. I think that is ethnocentrism, and that woman needed to be slapped. It's not as if they were trying to order food in Spanish and insisting on a waiter that spoke it. There's a line beyond which it's unethical to go when enforcing your majority culture across the board.

Incidentally, that's why my family spoke Hungarian instead of Romani. The latter was actually outlawed.

Yes it used to bother me a lot when i studied this phenomena. But nowadays i do not care. Mass ignorance and social stupidity will always be around. That's life.

Like "Aspergia"?

It depends. Some people carry their Ethnocentrism with them even while in another country and culture. At some point there needs to be some kind of middle ground.