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As others have touched on, you're applying black and white thinking on what should be a gradient. Artists and scientists have famously been prosecuted for diff
by itake 1mo ago
As others have touched on, you're applying black and white thinking on what should be a gradient.
Artists and scientists have famously been prosecuted for different communication.
But at the same time, communication gaps also resulted in millions of deaths.
Unifying language/culture/etc enables the "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Europe knows this (see formulation of the EU). Asia knows this (China's camps, Japan&Korea's immigration policies).
Its not this or that.
- Freak_NL 1mo agoEither your phrasing is really odd, or you are sincerely promoting China's Uyghur 'reeducation' camps as being sensible for the greater good. Europe meanwhile, in case you are unaware, is all about unity through culture, but the EU does this by celebrating its diversity (as well as actively protecting minority languages), not by Gleichschaltung.
- alex43578 1mo agoHow well is Europe’s unity through culture playing out when you’re trying to bridge Norway and Somalia, rather than Portugal and Spain or Denmark and the Netherlands? Hell, looking back a decade or two, the PIIGs would’ve been a bit at odds with the other countries purely over debt. Does the EU really repressing a best case for the common citizen in terms of unity and aligned society?
- bluebarbet 1mo agoThe last sentence: parse error
- heavenlyblue 1mo agoIt's amusing you're downvoted when EU clearly has Hungary which is a failed experiment at transforming Hungary (well at least up until last election). You could say the same about Turkey. Both way further ahead of Somalia.
- xigoi 1mo agoThe EU explicitly recognizes tens of languages as being equally valid.
- graemep 1mo agoIt has 24 official languages far fewer than are spoken in its member states so already diminishing linguistic diversity. A lot of things are published only in English, French and German https://commission.europa.eu/about/service-standards-and-principles/commissions-use-languages_en https://commission.europa.eu/about/service-standards-and-pri...
- roenxi 1mo agoDriving on the left side or the right side of a road are equally valid. It's still better if everyone coordinates to pick one. People shouldn't be coerced to give up their culture (in fact, doing that is quite evil) but cultural homogenisation seems like a good thing in principle. We want people to have an easy time communicating with each other.
- globalnode 1mo agodifferent cultures are what makes the world an interesting place. if all i saw was one homogeneous slab of culture i think id go mental(er than i already am)
- elliotec 1mo agoEU and China are perfect inversions of your point. China suppressing ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity for homogeneity has caused immeasurable suffering and imperialistic destruction. EU explicitly embracing ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity for heterogeneity has brought more peace and prosperity than ever before to a continent in perpetual conflict for nearly all of human history.
- heavenlyblue 1mo agoEU went to wars before not because of cultural differences though. It's not like Hitler necessarily wanted everyone to be a German, he just thought some cultures to be less important than others. Besides, you can always make the joke about the "paradox of tolerance" which by definition tolerates intolerance (which is probably at least one major ingredient of current rise of the right).
- BoiledCabbage 1mo ago> you're applying black and white thinking on what should be a gradient. You're the one introducing absolutist thinking here. Essentially saying the world should have Chinese style re-education camps because a Vietnamese woman rejected your offer to play a board game due to a miscommunication. Clearly that hurt you, but your "solution" is insanity. Not to mention I'm pretty sure way more millions have died from people trying to implement your "forcibly convert others to our culture and language" plan throughout history, than from wars started from a language translation error.
- Bjartr 1mo agoThey didn't propose a solution, they proposed an end state. A common language and culture would make for a more peaceful world, as they said. They did not say "and we must get there by any means necessary, existing culture be damned", and I'm not sure where you pulled that in from.
- BoiledCabbage 1mo ago> They didn't propose a solution, they proposed an end state. What are you talking about? Things they explicitly listed: "(China's camps, Japan&Korea's immigration policies)" China's camps are a process, not an end state. Immigration policies are a process. Clearly they are advocating for a process. And, no I don't think re-educations camps are a good thing for society. It's incredible this stuff has to actually be said.
- IAmBroom 1mo ago"Unifying culture" is a horrifying concept. We've seen what evil people can do with cultural subsets that differ - immigrants, POC, Jews, even women in workplaces where they are a small minority. In fact, aiming for a unified culture is literally, explicitly a definition of genocide, by the UN.