Saturday, September 7, 2013
Arrivals... There Goes the Neighborhood
There are many culture clashes that occur in society, both currently and throughout history (usually triggered by an arrival of someone or a group of people). When America was discovered by the europeans, and massive amounts of people immigrated there, there was a significant, destructive cultural clash between the Native American and European peoples. This is an extreme case, the two peoples differences in culture and lifestyle were too great for them to co-exist peacefully. The europeans changed the environment in a way that drastically affected the Native American lifestyle, as they had settled there long before the europeans and adapted to living, and using the land, in a certain way. Although clashes between the Europeans and Native Americans were practically unavoidable, the Europeans went about their settlement and interactions with the Native Americans with unnecessary intolerance, and displayed obvious bias due to factors i believe relatively insignificant. The Europeans, arriving from a completely different world, thought themselves racially superior to the Native Americans since they had 'evolved' from where the Native Americans were culturally. The Europeans prejudice was a result of their ability to read and write, physical appearance, and technology. Despite the Native Americans initial hospitality the Europeans made no effort to live peacefully and the Native Americans were forced to hopelessly retaliate (although new diseases killed a significant portion of the Native Americans, so there was already little hope.) This is an extreme example of a cultural clash yet depicts the occurrence well. I believe a clash occurs usually when a certain group thinks themselves superior to another that they have encountered, and does not make an effort to live peacefully in a society with them; this can lead to extreme and avoidable violence. Although cultural clashes do occur today they usually are of a lesser degree, fortunately modern society seems to have become more tolerant.
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I enjoyed reading this. It explains how the clash begins and how the sides see each other as and treat each other. The piece was enjoyable, but I would suggest rereading and making sure everything makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThis was a good description and explanation as to why the Native Americans and the Europeans clashed. What is an example of a more recent culture clash that we see in America, or in some other country?
ReplyDeleteI think this post is really good! You explained your thoughts well, and specifically HOW the clashes occur. I thought your perspective was interesting, since I never really thought that clashes occur because of one group thinking of themselves as more superior than the other. Now I realize that it's pretty true, as I think about why people might move from one neighborhood to another. Even though the clash between the Native Americans and Europeans was a pretty extreme case, how has modern society gotten more tolerable with new people moving in?
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