English culture advantages and disadvantages

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binocular
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by binocular »

There was a similar topic already a while back, and I posted an informative post there about language issues that seems to have gone unnoticed:
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 34#p401134
and my post right after that,
and also http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 80#p402368.
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Twilight
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Twilight »

@Binocular: I am not complaining about not using english language appropriately. I am complaining about been considered rude by the english.

Just google "germans are rude" to see a lot of articles about americans (let alone englishman) complaining about them been monsters. And as I said, germans are also northerner and puritan, not even close to latin europe. They are similar in bluntness but are not at all as aggressive in their way of speaking or debating as latins. Also keep in mind that english might look as "the default culture" cause of their colonies but they are just one out of 48 european countries. Nobody else in continental europe (except perhaps Portugal) developed that way of speaking.

I've read about australians and some say they are very different than the english while some say they are exactly the same. About new zealanders, they say they are exactly the same. This is probably because of the fact that australians are descendents of convicts while new zealanders were the usual, nose-in-the-air victorian era puritan, behaving everywhere like they are at the church.

Speaking of witch, just look at their coat of arms. Notice the immaculately pure, blonde woman dressed in white in the left side of the picture. Show me something more pure than that if you can. Nobody except the english and their colonies (and rarely the french) used woman (immaculately pure woman of course) in coat of arms or other imagery. The US anthem is the only one in the world singed by a woman. And they even named a place "The Virgin Islands". This puritanism is the reason why the PC culture has only developed in the english world and to a very very small extent in germany. Oh how I wish the french would have won the napoleonic wars, win northern america and be the "dominant culture" today.

(by the way, I wonder why this coat of arms was not considered racist and removed in this modern PC era)
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You'll have a better chance finding a moderate rebel in Ildib than finding a buddhist who ever changed his views. Views are there to be clung to. They are there to be defended with all one's might. Whatever clinging one will removed in regards to sense pleasures by practicing the path - that should be compensated with increased clinging to views. This is the fundamental balance of the noble 8thfold path. The yin and yang.
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BlackBird
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by BlackBird »

Twilight wrote: I've read about australians and some say they are very different than the english while some say they are exactly the same. About new zealanders, they say they are exactly the same. This is probably because of the fact that australians are descendents of convicts while new zealanders were the usual, nose-in-the-air victorian era puritan, behaving everywhere like they are at the church.

Speaking of witch, just look at their coat of arms. Notice the immaculately pure, blonde woman dressed in white in the left side of the picture. Show me something more pure than that if you can. Nobody except the english and their colonies (and rarely the french) used woman (immaculately pure woman of course) in coat of arms or other imagery. The US anthem is the only one in the world singed by a woman. And they even named a place "The Virgin Islands". This puritanism is the reason why the PC culture has only developed in the english world and to a very very small extent in germany. Oh how I wish the french would have won the napoleonic wars, win northern america and be the "dominant culture" today.

(by the way, I wonder why this coat of arms was not considered racist and removed in this modern PC era)
You know, I've defended you against people calling you a troll, but I guess I was being far too generous :rofl:
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Goofaholix
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Goofaholix »

BlackBird wrote:You know, I've defended you against people calling you a troll, but I guess I was being far too generous :rofl:
You're right, that post appears to serve no purpose other than fishing for a bite.
Pronouns (no self / not self)
“Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.”
― Ajahn Chah
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aflatun
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by aflatun »

I feel left out, can someone post some jokes that portray Iranians in a poor light?

:rolleye: :rofl:


PS: Or New Yorkers if you like...we're not quite "English" or generically "American" (heaven forbid)
"People often get too quick to say 'there's no self. There's no self...no self...no self.' There is self, there is focal point, its not yours. That's what not self is."

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Senses and the Thought-1, 42:53

"Those who create constructs about the Buddha,
Who is beyond construction and without exhaustion,
Are thereby damaged by their constructs;
They fail to see the Thus-Gone.

That which is the nature of the Thus-Gone
Is also the nature of this world.
There is no nature of the Thus-Gone.
There is no nature of the world."

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Twilight
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Twilight »

PS: Or New Yorkers if you like...we're not quite "English" or generically "American" (heaven forbid)
I've heard they are different and considered rude too.
I feel left out, can someone post some jokes that portray Iranians in a poor light?
That would be racist. But you can have this (notice McCain) :D
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You'll have a better chance finding a moderate rebel in Ildib than finding a buddhist who ever changed his views. Views are there to be clung to. They are there to be defended with all one's might. Whatever clinging one will removed in regards to sense pleasures by practicing the path - that should be compensated with increased clinging to views. This is the fundamental balance of the noble 8thfold path. The yin and yang.
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Consciousness and no-self explained in drawings: link
How stream entry is achieved. Mahasi / Zen understanding vs Sutta understanding: link
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Twilight
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Twilight »

You know, I've defended you against people calling you a troll, but I guess I was being far too generous
If you google "america vs europe culture" you will see that one of the difference is that making fun of other countries is absolutely normal in Europe and strictly forbidden in america. Again showing how easy it is to misinterpret people as been bad because they are simply different than you.
You'll have a better chance finding a moderate rebel in Ildib than finding a buddhist who ever changed his views. Views are there to be clung to. They are there to be defended with all one's might. Whatever clinging one will removed in regards to sense pleasures by practicing the path - that should be compensated with increased clinging to views. This is the fundamental balance of the noble 8thfold path. The yin and yang.
----------
Consciousness and no-self explained in drawings: link
How stream entry is achieved. Mahasi / Zen understanding vs Sutta understanding: link
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SDC
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by SDC »

Twilight wrote:@Binocular: I am not complaining about not using english language appropriately. I am complaining about been considered rude by the english.

Just google "germans are rude" to see a lot of articles about americans (let alone englishman) complaining about them been monsters. And as I said, germans are also northerner and puritan, not even close to latin europe. They are similar in bluntness but are not at all as aggressive in their way of speaking or debating as latins. Also keep in mind that english might look as "the default culture" cause of their colonies but they are just one out of 48 european countries. Nobody else in continental europe (except perhaps Portugal) developed that way of speaking.

I've read about australians and some say they are very different than the english while some say they are exactly the same. About new zealanders, they say they are exactly the same. This is probably because of the fact that australians are descendents of convicts while new zealanders were the usual, nose-in-the-air victorian era puritan, behaving everywhere like they are at the church.

Speaking of witch, just look at their coat of arms. Notice the immaculately pure, blonde woman dressed in white in the left side of the picture. Show me something more pure than that if you can. Nobody except the english and their colonies (and rarely the french) used woman (immaculately pure woman of course) in coat of arms or other imagery. The US anthem is the only one in the world singed by a woman. And they even named a place "The Virgin Islands". This puritanism is the reason why the PC culture has only developed in the english world and to a very very small extent in germany. Oh how I wish the french would have won the napoleonic wars, win northern america and be the "dominant culture" today.

(by the way, I wonder why this coat of arms was not considered racist and removed in this modern PC era)
:D

Where do you pull all of this from? You have endless material. Sometimes I wonder if you are even real or just a computer program. Lol
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Twilight
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Twilight »

You have to admit I got a point you do not hear often: that PC obviously developed because of puritanism and all people in the english world are PC no matter their political affiliation because that is simply the english culture. At the time of finding out about existence of PC, I tried reading some articles to see how it happened and few understood it was because of puritanism. It's quite easy to take a step back, look from the helicopter and notice: this thing only happened in the english world. Spain, Greece or other countries are infinitely more socialist but PC only exists in the english world. It's not by chance that the first mention of the world "PC" happenend in Missisipi.

I've saw a recent topic about "american exceptionalism". What I noticed too is that americans never compare themselves to the rest of the world. They never try to see things in world-perspective. It's like only US ever existed. This is why few journalist understand the obvious about why this PC culture developed only in the english world. It's just puritanism taken to extreme.
Sometimes I wonder if you are even real or just a computer program. Lol
:D :D :D
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You'll have a better chance finding a moderate rebel in Ildib than finding a buddhist who ever changed his views. Views are there to be clung to. They are there to be defended with all one's might. Whatever clinging one will removed in regards to sense pleasures by practicing the path - that should be compensated with increased clinging to views. This is the fundamental balance of the noble 8thfold path. The yin and yang.
----------
Consciousness and no-self explained in drawings: link
How stream entry is achieved. Mahasi / Zen understanding vs Sutta understanding: link
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Nicolas
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Nicolas »

There are many people here who do not speak English as their native language; they don't strike me as more or less rude or more or less PC than native English speakers. This forum has a lot of native English speakers, but I don't see it as suffering from that majority's communication style or culture. (I grew up in France, myself.)

It's not about being PC, but about being gentle, not irritating, and adopting right speech.
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Goofaholix
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Goofaholix »

Twilight wrote: It's just puritanism taken to extreme.
... and here I thought extreme puritanism was the burning of witches.
Pronouns (no self / not self)
“Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.”
― Ajahn Chah
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Twilight
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Twilight »

... and here I thought extreme puritanism was the burning of witches.
That's why we have racist/sexist/homophobic witch hunts happening today. Noble winners like Tim Hunt fired for absolutely no reason. Instead of protestantism we have religious humanism. But the attitude is exactly the same. "Burn those who are impure among us"
Nicolas wrote:There are many people here who do not speak English as their native language; they don't strike me as more or less rude or more or less PC than native English speakers. This forum has a lot of native English speakers, but I don't see it as suffering from that majority's communication style or culture. (I grew up in France, myself.)

It's not about being PC, but about being gentle, not irritating, and adopting right speech.
I agree, this is a very liberal forum and I am not complaining about rules been interpreted in that way. What I am trying to rise awareness is that been an english majority forum, and english been in the uttermost extreme of politeness, been the most anti-debate culture in the world - it is easy to be misunderstood as rude when not speaking in the same way. Denying the fact that english culture is so extreme they even consider germans to be very rude, and that this has no kind of influence whatsoever in how people are perceived over here is simply dishonest.

If we look in the suttas, Buddha was by no means an englishman. He would be a standard continental european if he would be alive today. This is why we even have topics about what was wrong with Buddha when he called people "foulish" or "worthless" or "stupid" or spoke in a very non-PC manner. I hope you're not making a case for Buddha not having right speech. He was not even close to an englishman way of speaking.
You'll have a better chance finding a moderate rebel in Ildib than finding a buddhist who ever changed his views. Views are there to be clung to. They are there to be defended with all one's might. Whatever clinging one will removed in regards to sense pleasures by practicing the path - that should be compensated with increased clinging to views. This is the fundamental balance of the noble 8thfold path. The yin and yang.
----------
Consciousness and no-self explained in drawings: link
How stream entry is achieved. Mahasi / Zen understanding vs Sutta understanding: link
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Nicolas
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Nicolas »

Twilight wrote:I hope you're not making a case for Buddha not having right speech.
Of course not, that would be silly. Why imply the possibility that this might be an intention of mine? There are better ways to further your point.
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Twilight
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by Twilight »

Since we're in the lounge, let's do an exercise of imagination: Napoleon does not do the insane russian campaign where he goes in with 450.000 and comes back with 4000 soldiers. He stays back home, realizes the importance of USA and pushes the evil english out of their tiny strip of US land and sends them back home on their island where they can be more puritan than Virgin Mary without disturbing the rest of the world.

Only problem with this is that we'd probably be living under Nazi rule right now or forced to learn french grammar that follows no kind of rules whatsoever. But for the sake of imagination....
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You'll have a better chance finding a moderate rebel in Ildib than finding a buddhist who ever changed his views. Views are there to be clung to. They are there to be defended with all one's might. Whatever clinging one will removed in regards to sense pleasures by practicing the path - that should be compensated with increased clinging to views. This is the fundamental balance of the noble 8thfold path. The yin and yang.
----------
Consciousness and no-self explained in drawings: link
How stream entry is achieved. Mahasi / Zen understanding vs Sutta understanding: link
binocular
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Re: English culture advantages and disadvantages

Post by binocular »

SDC wrote:Where do you pull all of this from? You have endless material. Sometimes I wonder if you are even real or just a computer program. Lol
Did anyone bother to read my posts about studies of moral reasoning in a foreign language etc.? I guess not ...

The results of those studies can actually answer your question, at least in part. A person functioning in a foreign language does not have the usual system of practical and moral checks and balances that they have when functioning in their native language. Hence the dhiarrhea of words.
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