Commentary
The key to getting along in the world is to show respect
By Jose Leonardo Santos
Jose Leonardo Santos is an anthropologist and assistant professor of social science at Metropolitan State University.
Imagine a newborn baby. Your baby. The most precious thing in the world. Now imagine the neighborhood bully. He walks up to this precious baby. He leans in close over the stroller. He spills a soda on your baby. He laughs, then walks away. Would you be angry?
Well, why? It's just a soda. Can't really hurt. Wasn't enough to drown your baby. Didn't get in the baby's eyes. What's to be upset about?
The scene is upsetting because it is rude. Because babies are precious. Because we know the spill was an insult. We know the laugh mocks us. The spilt soda, the laugh: They alone are not insulting. Their meaning is. Why did he do it to the baby and not to you? Because he knows the baby means so much. The soda, the laugh, the baby have powerful symbolic meaning.
Clifford Geertz wrote that religion is a system of symbols. These symbols are so powerful that they affect our moods and motivate us to action. Have you ever seen an old veteran cry before a flag? Same thing. She's not crying because she likes cloth. She's crying because the flag is a precious symbol.
Recently someone in the United States released a film. It mocks the Prophet of Islam. Throughout the Islamic world, riots have broken out. Fury has broken out. People are dead. The Prophet is the central figure of the faith. Then a French magazine released a cartoon that also mocks the Prophet. The response is predictable.
Many in our culture don't "get" religion. And of those who do, many don't get Islam. But all religions hold something sacred. Religion, to many, is as precious as a newborn child. You don't need to get religion to understand that.
We play with symbols every day. We give our loved ones roses. People burn flags. This symbolic play is potentially dangerous. Being unaware of what symbols mean can lead to death. Attacking another person's dearest things is a mistake. There will be no peace if we spit on babies. Want peace? Learn the other guy's symbols. Learn what is precious to him.
It's something we call cultural competence. You want to be respected? Figure out how others show respect. Then show them that respect. Then they might feel you are worthy of respect, too.
Comments (4)
Thank you for this, Jose. In our society, common respect and decency are dying out. I firmly believe it is one thing that the older generations must teach the younger ones if it is to continue, and for that, we must live in a way worthy of at least some respect. The schools must also think in terms of 4 R's: Reading, wRiting, 'Rithmetic, and Respect!
Looks like we have now heard from another apologist.
Another Ivory-Tower leftist, pontificating on how if we only surrender to them, they will all of a sudden "respect" us.
Nonsense. They only respect power. We have the physical power, but refuse to use it, therefore we are weak in their eyes. We are the weakest of the weak. They despise anyone who has power but is too weak minded to use it.
Obama has made us an object of derision in the eyes of the world. They murder our people, Obama and Clinton and Ellison apologize to them.
The murders and riots have nothing to do with some minor film. They are burning Obama in effigy, not the maker of the video.
They are shouting "Death to America", not Death to Film Makers.
Educate yourself, Jose, about religion. The need is obviously great.
Primative extremist tribes respect those more powerful than themselves, and despise those who are weaker.
Obama has put us firmly among the weakest.
This hippie idea that the whole world is going to join hands and live happily ever after in peace, love and mutual respect is so absurd as to only exist in late night hookah dreams on college campuses.
Get real.
As a fellow educator, I feel you really touched on an important part of literacy that many here in America are missing: cultural literacy/competence. It's not enough that people know how to read, speak, and write effectively (although that is VITALLY important), but that they also understand the people they will be communicating with, in all of their diversity. If people aren't culturally literate, they will be hobbled as badly as they would be if they lacked the more traditional literacies. I think your call for cultural competency is especially timely and vital.
Thoughtful pieces such as this one deserve equally thoughtful and respectful comments. Name calling does not qualify and is unworthy of publication, i.e., "Another Ivory-Tower leftist, pontificating on how if we only surrender to them, they will all of a sudden 'respect' us."
Branding someone ("leftist"), charging the writer with "pontificating" and with calling for "surrender" to "them" illustrate the need for Juan's commentary. Furthermore, the attitude of Mr. Franklin's post ignores the history of CIA assassinations, expropriaton of natural resources, and military interventions and occupations in the Middle East. Confusing military action with a nation's strength of character ignores the real strength of a nation or a people: the wisdom to act in ways appropriate to the situation and to the long-term future.
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