Ok, so it is not entirely about handphones...
To sum things up in that article, the traditional ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has come up with various ways to counter the problems brought around by new technologies and advances in communication. Some of the ways include automatic filtering of Internet websites and phone numbers.
Some Haredi Jews. Note their hats and beards.The ultra-Orthodox community, or Haredi, differs from mainstream Israeli society through their beliefs and practices. Many Haredi homes have no TV or radio. They wear traditional clothes and spend their time studying Jewish scriptures. Previously, they felt that technologies such as phones and TVs are not kosher (you do know what is the meaning of kosher right?) because it may have unsuitable content, such as pornography and gambling. Since photos of women are forbidden, it is not surprising that many Internet websites are avoided by the Haredi people.
I feel that this is a good example of how culture affects communication. You can see how the Haredi willingly avoid various communication technologies such as handphones and the Internet. Culture affects perception or interpretation of reality here. They view SMSing and taking photos as activities that promote "immodest" behavior, such as illicit communication between male and female youth. To many other cultures like our own, such views are considered unusual. This is because in our culture, mingling between the sexes is the norm.
Culture also affects behavior, as seen by their practices. As Edward T. Hall states, culture influences our behavior. If you were a Haredi male, much of your time will probably be spent learning the Torah. In contrast, what do you spend your time on? Since our culture is not based off the Jewish religion, it is highly likely that you do not pass your free time reading the Torah.
What happens when 2 different cultures meet? Well, you may experience culture shock. I am sure that news of many Haredi Jews not owning a TV or radio willingly may come as a surprise or shock to you. It was certainly a surprise for me. (yeah blame me for being ignorant) Likewise, they will also be shocked at how the different sexes mingle and communicate freely in public. This is because we are so used to what we see as the norm, which is actually dictated by what culture we have.
Beware of culture shocks!Another thing that may happen is the formation of stereotypes. After reading this, some of you may have the assumption that the Haredi Jews are a backward and unmodernised people. This is an example of plain old stereotyping. First off, we interpret their rejection of communications technology negatively. We come to that conclusion without thinking about their side of the story. In any case, the article shows that they are finding ways to integrate these new technologies without compromising their beliefs. Secondly, we tend to exaggerate and polarise whenever we experience something different. Thus, in our minds, we exaggerate this issue and end up thinking that all Haredi Jews avoid handphones like the plague. This is again not true as many of them already use handphones for business and such.
As you can see, culture clearly influences us in many ways. Not only does our own culture affect us, other cultures do as well. For example, I am certain many of you respect your Muslim friends and eat at Halal places when you are chilling out with them. Sometimes, we may accidently end up offending those from another culture. Talking about Israel, Jewish-Arab riots have rocked the coastal town of Acre for the past few days. The incident was sparked off when an Arab driver drove his car into a Jewish neighbourhood during the Jewish Yom Kippur festival. Since religious Jews consider driving during the festival offensive, the driver was attacked by some Jewish extremists. This is a sad example of how we must respect other cultures, lest we offend them.
Some cars were smashed during the Jewish-Arab riots in Acre.Last of all, I am going to end of by touching upon ethnocentrism. To those of you thinking that our culture is superior to others, a few words of warning. In my opinion, ethnocentrism is not far from racism. The Nazis were incredibly racist and looked what happened. You do not want something like that to happen now, would you?
5 comments:
Hey Emil!
Culture does play an important role in influencing the beliefs and the way we behave. Culture might even determine our way of life and how we perceive the rest of the world as unusual. However given the opportunity here in Singapore where we are multi-racial as well as multi cultural, we are fortunate to be exposed to many different cultures and are free to choose whatever culture we want to assimilate in. Given that advantage, we should never be narrow minded about other peoples culture and should give them respect to their chosen way of life? As communication depends and greatly influenced by culture, we should learn, appreciate and understand why people behave and live in the manner that they do? :)
hahz guess this is a pretty extreme group of people, cant really imagine a life without the internet or mobilephones. but i guess this is a very good example to show how culture can affect communication and many other things u identified. guess it would be quite an experience to try how their lifes are, probably we can try to do without our mobile phones and internet for a few day and see how it feels..hahz
there's the debate about nature and nurture. i believe in nurture, and i think culture is what nurtures us most. our perceptual mindsets, behavior and everyday actions have some part to do with the culture that we are exposed to.
of course, singapore is such a small country and although our culture may be rich in a sense, we should always be aware that there are many others out there who may be drastically different from us. the worst we can be, is to be ignorant of this fact.
I've learnt not to judge other people by their beliefs. If they should so choose to lead their lives in a particular manner, then I say let them. Who is to say whose culture or way of life is better than the other? In the end, it is only God who can make such calls.
As long as all respect each other as mutual humans, and maintain a sense of tolerance and diplomacy, all should be fine.
Good read!
It is inevitable that we will always use our own culture and beliefs as a basis when comparing different cultures. However, to simply compare is very different from having an air of superiority and labeling other cultures when we hardly know anything about them. True knowledge, is the understanding and acceptance of other beliefs while able to maintain your own unique culture.
Regards,
Shawn Lee Wei Bin
Post a Comment