"Culturalist" Not "Racist"

Recently a local shopping mall restricted the evening hours' entry of “young people” into its facility to those accompanied by adults. There is very little doubt that this policy was directed against Black youths who are blamed (Rightly or wrongly) for disorders there or for making adult (Usually White) shoppers and staff “uncomfortable”. Some have claimed this is a “racist” action.

I ask you to pause and think along a different road. Think of the ban and attitudes behind it as “cultureist”. That is, it is a conflict between the cultures of: Order VS. disorder; Reason VS. impulse; Order's law VS. random illegality; Peace VS. conflict; Reason VS. irrationality; And, like paired-opposites. This is NOT a new understanding of these opposites as I was instructed, in a long ago Anthropology class, of the essential classification of cultures into “Apollonian” VS. “Dionysian” variations.


Yes, there is a racial component to this classification system—To the extent that in today's USA and West Africa there are a larger number of Blacks whose sub-cultures fall within the wild, Dionysian, classification. However, other races have clearly demonstrated that same capacity for disorder. Remove a Japanese male from his homeland's strict social controls and, armed or unarmed, he is likely to “go wild” in various excesses of sexual behavior either inflicting harm as in the many rapes and other atrocities by Japanese troops during World War II OR in receiving harm (ie STDs). The group hysteria of Nazi assemblies, pogroms of Russian and Polish peasants, the long ago Witch hunts of Europe and, more recently, the public demonstrations of Islamic fundamentalists all support my contention that such Dionysian behaviors is NOT limited to one race or nation.

On the other hand, the reasoned-and-controlled campaign let by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Sufi conversion of Islam into a much more (Although not totally) peaceful exhibit of Faith, the Japanese Zen commitment to self-control (Although, sometimes demonstrated in deadly combat skills) and too many others are evidence of a strong Apollonian theme across differences in race and nation.

These differences can also be clearly heard in the differences in music as between the controlled dignity of Sufi and Plain Chant (Or, Winton Marceles' jazz) VS. the too common (In all senses of the word “common”) “ganstra rap” noise inflicted by and upon too many. In the visual arts this difference is most publicly seen between the paint splashing of some “modern” artists or “taggers” and the disciplined renditions of those who paint the story telling murals on public walls or show other, ordered, forms of drawing and painting (Or, as in my jewelry making). In literature, this is seen by the differences between the structured forms of poetry and the essentially random noises engendered by the lazy descendants of the “beat generation”.

The Dionysian lack of order and law can also be seen in too many of our high schools where some students lack any understanding of ordered thought (And behavior) to the extreme extent of calling in equally lawless friends or relatives to participate in mini-riots when confronted with their unacceptable behaviors. [To some extent this is a matter of not receiving what was once called “education”, which involved parental training in good manners and politeness---Especially to adults. However, the noted and horrid behaviors, along with poor academic performance, appear to be as much a matter of age beyond about 11-years, hormones and shifting from a family-based culture to the “pack” references of same aged youths. Literary examples of this “pack” culture include "A Clockwork Orange" and "Lord Of The Flies"---Both of which used White children or youths as “horrible examples”.]

That lack of commitment to ordered thought is also all too evident in the academic world where the immediate gratification of the approval of like-thinking (If “thinking” is the correct word) peers overcomes the need for critical and real thinking---As, I am sorry to write, is now becoming evident even in the physical sciences (eg Climatology and medical research) almost to the same extent it exists in schools of education, the social “sciences” and the liberal arts.

The same applies to the worlds of journalism and politics to such an extent as make it unnecessary to provide examples here.

Although I usually attempt to provide possible solutions to problems, here I am very unsure as to what to put forth. Perhaps, there is a need to insist on the following sequence in all institutions of our society: FIRST, provide order by such means as is necessary---Including the immediate suppression of all who would physically harm others; Then establish AND enforce such laws as will tend to secure order; Then, and only then, attempt to achieve justice, love and charity for all.