Conventional (Kən vēnshən’l) adj. 1. Socially excepted. conforming to socially accepted customs of behavior or style, especially in a way that lacks imagination. 2. Relating to a large gathering of people with a common interest or purpose.
I missed McCain’s speech last night. Actually, to be frank, I didn’t watch it. This RNC, however, was the first RNC I watched in my life time. No, leave the kudos or the sharp words at home; I’m not coming out as a republican. I do want to elaborate on the experience of watching the RNC, in lieu of the fact that I’m a former resident of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.
If you’ve read some of Lissa’s earlier posts (esp “A mindset is a terrible thing to change“), that’s kind of where I’m coming from also. It’s no coincidence, really; Lissa and I went to the same highschool and are also good friends (speaking of, Lis, if you’re reading this, I miss you! Call me). Like Lissa, I had the experience of leaving the cultural nest of Amherst, MA, and going elsewhere, in my case, Texas, where the cultural values are way different from the ones I soaked up in my northern, liberal upbringing. Unlike individual countries, say in Europe as an example, cultural values in the states are far less homogenous. The states is more like the entire European continent, in that cultural values in France may differ greatly from those in Switzerland, or in the Czech Republic. State to state, or perhaps more like region to region (New England being one region, the Southwest being another), cultural values are different. One of the most clear examples I can think of is how differently New Englanders value certain opportunities, compared to Texans. One of the big problems, one that I think is responsible for much of the cultural rift, is one culture will discourage opportunities, or degrade them, while another culture will have value them greatly. Take being a soldier, as an example. Many liberals view joining the army as a desperate choice, an indication that a person doesn’t have “better oportunities”. The Texans I know view joining the armed forces as honorable. Up north, one adult saying to another, “your kid isn’t exactly college material” would be a huge offense. Down here (and this is something I’ve witnessed), one adult saying to another, “your kid aint gonna be no navy seal” will result in the offended party being threatened with a barbecue skewer, possibly stabbed, and certainly not getting an invite to the next barbeque. So, yeah, I’d say that pretty much proves that a clear difference in cultural values exists.
I believe that a civilized person is one who will adapt to, if not adopt at least some of, the cultural values of their surroundings. But what happens to the old values when a person moves from one cultural setting to another? I’ve certainly adopted some of the conservative values from my current locale, but it’s not easy to merely boot out the old values. In fact, I’d say my old liberal values aren’t completely gone, but rather in purgatory. Or dormant, ineffectual in the majority of my goings about from day to day. So, where does that leave me? Kind of in limbo. Still new and inexperienced in the ways of the red state, but far far removed from the land and customs of the deep blue.
Back to the convention, now that I’ve set up my hefty background. I watched some of the RNC, and it was the first time I’d seen any of the RNC. Back in MA, and had this been 4 years ago, my perception would’ve been much different. I would’ve colored every remark I heard much, much differently, especially the pro-defense statements. I still dislike the Iraq war, much as ever, but hearing the candidates and key note speakers talk about getting the job done and staying the course didn’t irk me like it used to. Have my cultural values really changed, or has adaptation to my surroundings made my ears more pliable to some suggestions, and closed off to others?
Back in the office, the next day, T oppined that Sarah Palin’s “extreme bitchiness” scares the crap out of the moderate and left sides, and pointed out that Obama’s funding increased by 8 million following her RNC speach. If I had to place T on the spectrum, I’d say he’s a conservative moderate. As I said that I liked Palin’s first appearance, I noticed something about T’s argumentation style: he had adopted a very liberal argumentation style, something that is not characteristic of him. I was talking about Palin, and within 2 minutes T had steered the converstation to “McCain is just like Bush”. I wondered, what gives?
How could a person seem to flip a switch like that? I thought, “What if I could momentarily revive and adopt my old liberal state of mind? How would Sarah Palin appear to me then?” Even though I didn’t think it was possible to “flip that switch”, I tried: I scrounged up some anti-Palin and anti-MacCain articles, enough to make me wonder where the liberal side is coming from, then went on a fact hunt, and then rewatched her speech. I thought about how I might have viewed her 2,3, or 4 years ago. I don’t think I would’ve liked her at all. I think I would’ve cast a lot of doubt over her persona and wondered if she’s so good, why hasn’t anyone heard of her? OK, I thought after seeing her speech for the second time. I guess I can see how she’s kind of a ball-biting bitch. But I couldn’t perceive anything beyond the likings of “I guess I can see how she’d come off like that.”
I tried to do something other than look at both sides from the middle, from my place in limbo. I looked at the conservative side from the conservative side, and then tried to perceive that same side as if I was standing on the left, which was difficult to accomplish. These changes in mindset don’t evolve internally due to the adoption of new values alone. Where we are, what surrounds us everyday causes us to accept new values and perhaps place less weight on the values from those cultural systems in which we no longer actively participate. I cannot weigh both belief systems, liberal and conservative, equally. I think that anyone who says they can really judge the “other sides values” with equal weight as that they place on their own beliefs, is either full of shit, or is detached from both sides. We can guess, we can make educated informed judgements, and we can try to be fair and considerate out of recognition that there is more than one side to everything. As I said earlier, I believe a civilized person will adapt to their cultural surroundings; it is unreasonable to think, believe, or expect that a person can be in one place, surrounded by that place’s culture, values and believe systems, and be equally affected by the values and believe systems of a culture that is distant, or one from which they are removed.
***edit***
I realize theres a big flaw in my argument, or at least some things that needs clarification. I said I believe that civilized people adapt to their culture. But does that mean that not adapting is uncivilized? Must we buy into the doctrines of the culture that surrounds us in order to be “civilized”; is dissent uncivilized? I thought about those quesitons some more, and came up with ansers of no, no, and no. I know plenty of civilized people in MA who have had it with the mainstream liberal bologne. So, how do I explain that? Easy: subcultures. Every culture has subcultures. Even in MA, gun-culture exists as a subculture. These cultures are not mainstream, but they are in the mix.
I also said that “it is unreasonable to think, believe, or expect that a person can be in one place, surrounded by that place’s culture, values and believe systems, and be equally affected by the values and believe systems of a culture that is distant, or one from which they are removed.” I would replace culture with “culture or subculture” to include the importance of subcultures in the a person or society’s cultural make-up. It is possible to be somewhere and not participate in the mainstream culture, because sub-cultures are always there. Take my lovely current home-city for example: Austin, TX, the blue dot in the sea of red. You have to wonder how that happened. I’m just gonna spit-ball it here, but in likelihood, at some-point, probably the 60’s or 70’s with the ‘Nam war and the increase in hippy-flux to the music capital of the world, the liberal sub-culture expaned enormously. In spite of the surrounding area, mainstream culture here is dominantly liberal and democratic. But there are still cowboys, and good ‘ol boys, and intelligent “red necks” who don’t participate in that part of Austin’s culture.
Damn, sometimes this shit goes down like quantum mechanics.
