Subtle Tolerance (No More!)
I asked a group of leaders recently if, as the world 'gets smaller', they've noticed a change in our culture toward being more adopting and accepting of other cultures. They explained that it's not a merger, as much as it is a peaceful co-existence. People tend to go to extremes on one side or the other. One attitude is that they're too different for us to ever completely understand -- they do their thing, and we do ours. The other is that they watch Hollywood movies and wear Nike shoes, so they're just like us! As per usual, the truth is somewhere in between...
Here is a point that I cannot stress enough. When people are dropped into North America, they are met with a high-paced, frenetic culture, for which they have no context and no filters. Advertising (and for that matter any message) has had to continue to compete with media desensitisation that the media have themselves caused. It's an arms race between the populace's apathy and the shimmering cool, extreme, quirky, funny, whatever. A the newcomers fall for it. Hard!
Here's a perfect example of the culture clash: An immigrant kid watches The Family Guy and doesn't get that it's funny because it is so absurdly opposed to the values of our day. Instead she takes it as a literal interpretation of North American life, and ends up saying something entirely inappriopriate (which, depending on the situation, may or may not be uproariously funny) and unfortunately has no clue what she's done.
It seems a little strange to me that traveling to other continents to see otherness is so wildly popular, while going next door isn't. We need to do more to integrate newcomers into their brave-new-world. They are shaping it, and are being shaped by it, whether we are invested in it or not. I say let's help!
(With increased sensitivity to this issue, I've heard of one church in particular starting this type of outreach. It's a large church with plenty of resources at its disposal, so I hope it does the effort justice. I would like to add that there is room for everyone to participate: One church can't reach everyone!)
Here is a point that I cannot stress enough. When people are dropped into North America, they are met with a high-paced, frenetic culture, for which they have no context and no filters. Advertising (and for that matter any message) has had to continue to compete with media desensitisation that the media have themselves caused. It's an arms race between the populace's apathy and the shimmering cool, extreme, quirky, funny, whatever. A the newcomers fall for it. Hard!
Here's a perfect example of the culture clash: An immigrant kid watches The Family Guy and doesn't get that it's funny because it is so absurdly opposed to the values of our day. Instead she takes it as a literal interpretation of North American life, and ends up saying something entirely inappriopriate (which, depending on the situation, may or may not be uproariously funny) and unfortunately has no clue what she's done.
It seems a little strange to me that traveling to other continents to see otherness is so wildly popular, while going next door isn't. We need to do more to integrate newcomers into their brave-new-world. They are shaping it, and are being shaped by it, whether we are invested in it or not. I say let's help!
(With increased sensitivity to this issue, I've heard of one church in particular starting this type of outreach. It's a large church with plenty of resources at its disposal, so I hope it does the effort justice. I would like to add that there is room for everyone to participate: One church can't reach everyone!)
Labels: criticism
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home