Ethnocentric

Spurred by a desire for the True and the Good, I've decided to explore the much used term ethnocentric.

For those who don't know, ethnocentrism is an adjective borrowed from anthropology which means "centered on a specific ethnic group, usually one's own." When used today, it is applied to groups wider than genetically related ethnic groups; it is applied to groups linked by culture, a common set of values, beliefs, and institutions.

We are told in our education to not be ethnocentric. We are told not to think our way is better than others. Essentially, we are told not to make value judgements.

Students are taught history and social science not so much to teach them about other times and places as to make them aware of the fact that their preferences are only that--simply preferences, accidents of their time and place. (Children cannot understand the issues, but they are easy to propagandize.) Students are not taught that there may be an absolute standard by which all cultures and values will be judged, for this would imply the superiority of some values and cultures over others.

We are told not to despise anyone or any practice. The rationale being that the need to be esteemed is a basic need of all men. So indiscriminateness is a moral imperative because its opposite is discrimination.

The flipside of indiscriminateness, i.e. lack of discernment, is that one cannot praise anyone or anything as good. Men are not permitted to seek for the natural human good and admire it when found, for such a discovery comes together with the discovery of the bad and contempt for it. Our instincts and our intellect must be suppressed by education. Our natural souls are to be replaced with artificial, hollow souls. And why? Because of the fear that people may take their beliefs seriously, may let their souls be felt.