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The Modern Clash of Cultures
A new idea popular in the global arena today is that of "the clash of cultures." Now that humanity appears to be moving out of the era of world wars the main conflict is becoming no longer military but cultural. It is no longer a question of a clash of armies but one of ideas and beliefs. This encounter is primarily occurring in the media sphere where cultures collide, with political, information and business campaigns. However, the media itself is the vehicle and sometimes the weapon mainly for one culture, the Western European and American, at least until other groups learn how to use it effectively.
Votaries of the clash of cultures view divide the world into various cultural spheres defined
primarily by geography and religion. First is Christian Western
Europe and North America with liberal humanitarian and free trade
values that now dominate the world. Related to this is the Orthodox
Christian Russian and Eastern Europe sphere with similar traditions
but a greater tendency toward central control and totalitarianism.
Quite different than these two is Islamic North Africa and the
Middle East, where there is no separation of church and state and
religious law still rules supreme and often without tolerance.
Beyond these spheres, which have had considerable historical
interchange, lies Confucian China with a powerful and strongly
ordered hierarchical society that has little regard for the
individual or human rights. Finally there is Hindu India and the
Indian subcontinent with diverse traditions of spirituality but a
lack of concern for social development, including little
cohesiveness politically and much backwardness economically. Outside
these major spheres are native African, American and Asian groups,
including tribal peoples, who are generally being displaced by one
or more of these dominant cultural groups, with the
proselytizing religions of Christianity and Islam making the
greatest inroads.
Author : David Frawley
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