College Students Too PC?

There was a poll released last week or so and in it, 74% of college students said that Western Culture is not superior to Middle Eastern, specifically Muslim culture.
Now, last week, there was a story in the paper about an 18 year old woman in Pakistan, one of our allies, who was senteced to being gang raped by four men because her 11 year old brother was seen walking with a girl that was not related to him. This type of thing goes on all the time. Women can be locked up or put to death for refusing a man's advances.

Knowing this, did these college students really believe this, or were they doing that PC, "no culture is better, just different" thing?



(As written by JediLord)

 

I think those college students were misinformed (by PC professors, mostly). They need to get their heads out of their iBooks and take a look at Real Life.

 

Yeah, but even not knowing that particular incident, I would say that Western culture is better, b/c i live here and love it! No offense to anyone.

BUt come on, if they thought that was rue, hy don't they go live over there for a while? Makes me ashamed to be a college student.

 

It's not a quite fair analogy, IMHO.

Reversed Situation:
A certain percentage of American college kids believe that the US and Western Culture are superior to Eastern Culture.

But then an Easterner points out that in the free western countries, there are such things as school shooting - children murdering their own classmates.


Is it really fair to use one example of one incident (even if it represents many more possible incidents) to validate the superiority of one culture over another?

The term western and eastern are also very very broad. They include many things, both good and bad.

And also note that the college students agreed that western culture was not superior to eastern culture. They never said that it was inferior.


Having said that, I do believe that the majority of college students are more PC than the ordinary person and that they are not as in touch with "reality" as older adults are. Given time I'm sure they will experience the world more and hopefully come to their senses

 

I would say that they are because it is a proven fact that college students are more liberal than the rest of the world.

 

At the risk of sounding cliche, PPOR please. I've found there to be a very diverse body of opinions on college campuses. Heck, in some surveys I took for my Sociology class more people identified themselves as conservative or non-partisan than liberal.

 

Having gone to college, i might say that college students maybe more liberal than the average american, but not more PC. There are more derogatory remarks directed at people in college than there are in the outside working world. PC doesnt generally mean liberal. Personally I am more liberal than this conservative board, but i am far from PC.


And as far as one cultutre being better than another, you cant really make that judgement because until you have walked in the shoes of a person living that culture, you cant really understand it. While there may be human rights violations going on in one culture there usually are other human rights violations going on in ours. Let's not forget the atrocities of the western world within the past 100 years(the Holocaust, Stalin's purges, civil rights in the US, the US' involvement in Vietnam and the use of chemical warfare, school shooting in the US and Europe, the massacres in the Balkans, even Enron disgusts me). That is not to say I absolve other cultures for their horrific crimes(Sudanese civil war, female castration, Islamic fundamentalist governments, to name a few), it is just that it really is hard to call one culture superior to another. The thought of being superior is one of the leading causes of poverty and most of the horrible situations of the world anyway, National Imperialism.
While the superior European cultures did bring reading and railways and other advancements, they also brought death and destruction to these native peoples. Im not PC, but horrific crimes like the one stated in the first post are not limited to the one part of the world. After all we live in a country where a black man can still be dragged behind a truck and beheaded or a gay man can be crucified.

 

I haven't gone to college just yet, so I can't comment from experience, but your thoughts are similar to my own, Sleazo. I just can't consider my culture outright superior to another. There certainly are advantages from one culture to another, but there are weaknesses that go along with them.

 

Exactly Knight rider, their are pros and cons to all cultures. One thing that bothers me about american culture is the destruction of the extended family and the move to the nuclear one. Culture is not just about the negative things like the atrocities, it is also about the positive ones like family.


But than again i went to a liberal east coast college so what do i know

 

The majority of the students are just regurgitating what their instrctors tell them. Once they get out of college will they truly begin to think for themselves as they have more experiences where they won't be able to fall back onto their professors.

Personally, I have very little trust for those who spend the bulk of their careers in academia. After spending so much time there, they lose sight of how the real world works and how real world events can't be summed up neatly into a thesis of some kind.

 

When I "compare" cultures, I usually take away the parts of a culture that would be deemed a violation of rights. This is because even Western culture has had, in the past, very severe violation of rights. These other cultures simply happen to be less evolved. However, if asked if current Western practices were superior, I would have to say "probably yes".

 

What exactly is less evolved? And could it possibly be that the people in these "less evolved" cultures are living life the way it is meant to be lived and in a sense happier?

 

The main source of my proof is from my textbook and readings for my AP government class.

There are polls out there that show those in college are more liberal and the get moreso as long as they stay in college, but once they get out into the real world they get more conservative.

Any political scientist knows this, but I do not know how I could Post proof, but I will not retract as I have seen the proof with my eyes.

 

It's all a question of objectives.

The objective of Western culture is freedom, prosperity, and happiness. That's why we think the Taliban, for example, promoted a culture inferior to our own.

The objective of the Taliban's culture is inspired by their fundamentalist beliefs--their objective is virtue. They see a definite lack of virtue in Western culture, so they think their culture is superior.

Who's right?

The ultra-PC, which often includes the highly-educated-but-never-seen-the-real-world crowd, like to judge everything from universal standard. The problem is, a universal standard doesn't exist in this case because they seek to judge cultures with different measures for success objectively. Obviously, they can't. The Taliban's means and goals and those of Western society stand in stark contrast. They're impossible to compare unless you accept some esoteric values (which the snooty "educated" crowd won't do, since they believe it impairs their ability to view the world objectively--which they can't technically do unless they establish a perspective. It's a twisted catch-22.) So they're left to believe that no culture is superior or inferior to another.

I, however, base my perspective on my ideals and values. Therefore I can objectively say that Western culture is superior.

 

I got a 5 on my AP US Government test. I think I can speak with certain authority that those textbooks are very inconsistent and often times present a slant on the facts. One of the textbooks I've read asserted that there is either no bias in the media or that the bias is negligible.

Judging from the number of Christian and Republican-related clubs on the campuses I've vistited, I think you'd be hard pressed to prove college students are mostly liberal.

 

It is not just a question of objectives, it culture is a lot more than that. it is very easy for you to sit there and say it is a question of objectives like there is no other thought. And speaking of objectives there a lot of fundamentalists in our own country who want simlar things to the taliban. And since the taliban obviously believe their culture to be superior doesnt that make it subjective.

 

Nobody has written the objectives of Western culture in stone, just as nobody has written those of the Taliban's 'culture' in stone.

But they exist. They are the unwritten ideas which propel our societies to advance in the ways we do. When people protest (for example) a proposed amendment banning the media, they are attempting to propogate freedom. When people protest high taxes, they are attempting to maintain or increase their level of wealth.

It's undeniable that there every culture has objectives (or guidelines, or principles, or what have you). They are the principles by which new laws are regulated and bad ones struck down.

Not everybody in the West may agree that freedom (for example) is a good objective. However, it remains a principle by which Western culture survives because the majority still accepts it.

It's all about principles, or objectives, or guidelines, or whatever you want to call them.

 

Being liberal has nothing to do with it. i am liberal and I think they are on crack.

Some cultures do differ, but any culture that treats women in such a manner is NOT superior to any other. Call me what you will, but people need to recognize this. Everyone is so worried about the rights of John Walker or some kid who got punched b/c he assualted a cop. They need to worry about the people who NEED and WANT our help.

 

Well, one diffrence between the example of the bad parts of their society, and the bad parts of our current society is what happened to that woman seems to be concidered acceptable in that society whereas the things like school shootings are not concidered acceptable by our society. With that in mind, our society can be concidered better.

 

I would agree with the college students. There is a distinction between Islam and the Middle East. Many countries in the Middle East also have totalitarian governments or are theocracies.

Other predomininantly Muslim countries do not have laws like that.

Islam on its own is not inferior, but like anything else when it becomes entangled with other elements it's a problem.

I don't think any culture can be considered inferior. Perhaps economies and political structure, but not culture (traditions, language etc.).

Of course, I'm a university student.

 

EnforcerSG, you are wrong, it is not accpeted there. Well, by the men and the people in power, but women protest that treatment everyday. Their cries for help go unheard.

And to cmpare that to a school shooting is ridiculous. Shooting someone is iilegal. This is STATE sponsered rape. Even a college student can see the difference.

 

I think it all comes down to certain people being taught by so called PC professors. Nothing more. I saw it plenty in college and I made sure when I sensed the PC in a course I made sure in my papers or in class discussions to add fuel to the fire with not being PC. It feels so good since most of the time the professor had to give me a good grade on my papers because I back up everything I said.

 

I wouldn't say western culture is "better".

I will say that based on the history and nature of religious theocracies around the planet (with but rare exceptions), that secular democracies such as america and the european nations are more civilized.

When the arab nations progress beyond barbaric islamic dictatorships that mistreat women, cruelly and unusually punish criminals for menial infractions, and begin to educate their citizens, treat all equally, and give up the sponsorship of hatred and intolerance, then they might become more...civilized.

Being PC?? Of course. Most students polled probably think only the arab governments are anti-western, without realizing that they stir up a lot of this sentiment on the 'arab street' as well. In america right now, it seems more important to be PC than it does to tell the whole truth.

Sad.

Peace,

V-03

 

Oops, double posted.

Grrrr.

 

ARg, i typed up a big nicely worded response, and the bleeping computer....arg...

Jedi Lord. Actually, what I tried to say is more or less what you said. That the evils of their society are supported by law and by a good part of their population whereas our bad parts of society are illeagle, or we have gotten rid of those evils. Yeah, there are those who protest their punishment, but there are obviously more who don't. I said school shootings because it has been mentioned above.

In that respect, it is a state sponsered gang rape, where as here, many of the evils of our society are illeagle, and not supported by the people in power; we have the better society in with those thoughts in mind.

Being in college (on summer break actually) I would not say that students are more PC, but those that are are able to be very vocal about it. It is really easy to stand up somewhere and start shouting, or orginize a speach or whatever, and usally those that do, or those that get attention, are rather very politically correct. That, and the proofs who would be more likly to tell their students to go to the ones they support (the PC ones)... you get the picture.