Cultural Differences and Racism

By Kat


Enduring the full length of the film "The Gua Sha Treatment" was difficult, to say the least. But despite the stupid characters (I mean, who climbs up the side of a building in a Santa suit??), and all the completely illogical court cases (no good lawyer uses violence in video games and a Chinese folktale to prove their points...), the movie does present an important discussion point- cultural differences.
The presence of cultural differences is extremely prevalent in Australia, where multiculturalism is a defining feature. Only recently, the government almost passed a 'Burqa Ban' law. Religious headwear is a defining part of these cultures, and through news like this, it is increasingly obvious that we all need to be more open-minded about other people and their cultures.
I have heard claims that Chinese people are generally more rude in comparison to Western people. But it is generalisations like this that I find inherently dangerous in our society, because as much as it's completely unjust and preposterous to call all Muslims terrorists, it is unacceptable to make presumptions of individual people based on their mannerisms and background.
I am someone raised in the Western world (I have been for all my life) but with a 100% Chinese background. I would say I have a fair knowledge of both cultures, and because of my constant exposure to the two, I think I can say that peoples' perceptions of what is rude or polite, or what is acceptable in society and what is not, is determined not by the thickness of moral and behavioural fabric, but the changing fabric itself.
You can take inviting a guest over to dinner as an example of cultural differences. In this situation, a Chinese person typically ushers the guest in, then during their meal, the host is possessed by a need to scoop more rice or stir-fried vegetables into their guest's bowl. Once they are nearly done, the host will continue to shovel tofu, fish and braised pork, until the poor guest is overwhelmed by their endless input of delicious delights. After dinner, the host will typically invite the guest to stay a bit longer as is Chinese custom, expecting the guest to thank them, but politely refuse...unless, they happen to be a poor Western person caught in an unfamiliar sea, in which case the guest may accept, thus beginning an endless cycle, until finally the guest must leave the host's abode. In this circumstance, the guest will leave pondering why the host would keep him back so rudely, whereas the host will muse about how rude his guest was- how could he overstay his welcome like that?- and make a mental note never to invite him to dinner again.
A bit extreme at some points, I admit, but you get the gist.
You can't say that an entire culture is inherently more evil or rude than another, because the very behaviours that define 'rude' in one culture may differ drastically to the next.
It's not great to be in a position where we still can't call ourselves tolerant. Australia is considered one of the most racist countries in the world, grouped closely with the US and the UK. It's the 21st century, and you'd think these sort of injustices would have gone by now. But even now, we see that so many people discriminate against other races. One could say we belong to one race, being that we are all equally a part of the world, and the colour of our skin does not determine what group we belong to. But somehow I believe that the presence of different ethnic groups and different cultures is necessary for a society- we learn and we grow from how we are different, rather than how we are the same. But it is only through acceptance of other people without immediately drawing extreme and unfounded correlations that we can find ourselves in this position.