I heard an interesting piece on NPR about Somali immigrants and their difficulties in adjusting to US culture. All refugees (I don't know about other immigrant groups) have a three day orientation class to US culture.Hhere they here about, among other things, US sexual harassment law, how to use an airplane toilet and sexual equality (the usefulness, validity and socio-political stance reflected in the selected items is for another discussion). They also hear about something quite alien to Somalis- public public displays of affection (PDA).
PDA is unheard of for married couples in Somalia. For single people it is exceptionally bad taste, close to someone casually exposing their genitalia in our culture. Male homosexual behavior is completely untolerated in Somali culture. Whatever homosexual behavior there is occurs very privately at the risk of being killed if discovered, not by the government (there is not much Somali government) but by friends and relatives.
Another issue shocking to Somalis is homelessness. It is the height of public shame for a Somali family to have a relative sleep outdoors. Even in such a poor country, room and board are made for a relative out of work, forced to flee their home, or elderly. It is not so much shocking that there are homeless in a country of the wealth of the US as it is shocking from a social perspective. In Somalia it is grossly inappropriate to let your relative starve, sleep outdoors or die from exposure.
All cultures have some degree of cultural bias in their own favor. We certainly do. We are proud of our ability to make money, to build great highways, to fly to the moon, to make computers, make big cities. What about our human values? It does not seem to me there is so much pride or even thought given to human values on a personal level. While Somalia is poor, violent and ungoverned, no one sleeps outdoors. The Somali elderly are taken into their family home.
We have foisted off on the government responsibility for social issues. These include medical care for the elderly, financial support for the elderly, assistance for the poor and destitute, food for the hungry, policing of values. We have done this through a 50 year process nominally in the name of freedom and equality for all, but in fact representing an abrogation of individual responsibility for family and community.
We have two working parents while children are left in day care or public school aftercare programs. We have parents sent to assisted living facilities and then nursing homes to die alone, out of the sight of others. We do not perform charitable acts for our neighbors or through local associations, we give to the United Way or pay tax to let our government do it. We do not act to uphold community behavioral standards for fear of being criticized for abuse or attacked for insensitivity.
We create this. No one else. It was not forced on us. We made these choices, we elected the people who created these programs. And all these choices let us pursue our comfort and wealth without the 'drag' of childcare or elderly care or the poor or ill-behaved of our communities.
I feel we have lost our way individually and societally in these choices. There is less that holds us together when we can let 'the government' do what we should do not just for ourselves but for others. As ridiculous as it sounds to American ears, I believe we can learn something about values and society from Somalia, even inasmuch as they can benefit from us.
Jesus said the first will be last and the last first. In this case, the richest country in the world can learn something about social organization and responsibility from one of the poorest. And I feel it is an exceptionally poor reflection upon us that we do not or can not articulate personal responsibility for the collective, because in failing to be able to say such, we acknowledge there is not a collective set of values and duties to articulate.
Ted
PDA is unheard of for married couples in Somalia. For single people it is exceptionally bad taste, close to someone casually exposing their genitalia in our culture. Male homosexual behavior is completely untolerated in Somali culture. Whatever homosexual behavior there is occurs very privately at the risk of being killed if discovered, not by the government (there is not much Somali government) but by friends and relatives.
Another issue shocking to Somalis is homelessness. It is the height of public shame for a Somali family to have a relative sleep outdoors. Even in such a poor country, room and board are made for a relative out of work, forced to flee their home, or elderly. It is not so much shocking that there are homeless in a country of the wealth of the US as it is shocking from a social perspective. In Somalia it is grossly inappropriate to let your relative starve, sleep outdoors or die from exposure.
All cultures have some degree of cultural bias in their own favor. We certainly do. We are proud of our ability to make money, to build great highways, to fly to the moon, to make computers, make big cities. What about our human values? It does not seem to me there is so much pride or even thought given to human values on a personal level. While Somalia is poor, violent and ungoverned, no one sleeps outdoors. The Somali elderly are taken into their family home.
We have foisted off on the government responsibility for social issues. These include medical care for the elderly, financial support for the elderly, assistance for the poor and destitute, food for the hungry, policing of values. We have done this through a 50 year process nominally in the name of freedom and equality for all, but in fact representing an abrogation of individual responsibility for family and community.
We have two working parents while children are left in day care or public school aftercare programs. We have parents sent to assisted living facilities and then nursing homes to die alone, out of the sight of others. We do not perform charitable acts for our neighbors or through local associations, we give to the United Way or pay tax to let our government do it. We do not act to uphold community behavioral standards for fear of being criticized for abuse or attacked for insensitivity.
We create this. No one else. It was not forced on us. We made these choices, we elected the people who created these programs. And all these choices let us pursue our comfort and wealth without the 'drag' of childcare or elderly care or the poor or ill-behaved of our communities.
I feel we have lost our way individually and societally in these choices. There is less that holds us together when we can let 'the government' do what we should do not just for ourselves but for others. As ridiculous as it sounds to American ears, I believe we can learn something about values and society from Somalia, even inasmuch as they can benefit from us.
Jesus said the first will be last and the last first. In this case, the richest country in the world can learn something about social organization and responsibility from one of the poorest. And I feel it is an exceptionally poor reflection upon us that we do not or can not articulate personal responsibility for the collective, because in failing to be able to say such, we acknowledge there is not a collective set of values and duties to articulate.
Ted
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