As far as uniqueness of individual rights to the JudeoChristian belief system: I can’t quote from their texts, but I think there are many religions that consider all men to be endowed with inescapable rights by a creator. Hinduism somewhat fails with its caste system, but they believe rebirth makes this life into a “stage”: much like children don’t have the rights adults have, but they will grow into them. Gandhi was a Hindu, and he led India’s overthrow of British rule. My impression of Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism is that they all place a high importance on individual rights.

That’s about the best you can hope for at the moment… at least until Google comes out with their own cell phone. ;-)

Or something less blatant such as how one cuts meat. In America, the “correct” way is to switch hands to cut so the knife is in your stronger hand. In Europe, the “correct” way is to leave the fork in the dominant hand and avoid the switching back and forth. Eating in the “wrong” way for the culture would be noticed in any formal dining situation.

Commercialism and pop culture is a bit of a deeper subject I don’t think I’m qualified to tackle. But I thought that the type of training referred to by Keith covered more everyday things like greetings, whether or not to make eye contact, if hand-holding is appropriate (remember when the Saudi Arabian King visited and walked around holding President Bush’s hand?), etc.

Not that I think expecting people living in a culture to follow cultural norms such as shaking hands is unreasonable. But it’s good to be aware that such norms are different in other countries, to help avoid potentially damaging misunderstandings. And it can show a lot of caring to attempt to make someone feel more comfortable by allowing some of their cultural practices into a relationship (personal or business)

And for close to a century, any cultural tradition that the West has had before the 20th century has been attacked in academia and in press circles. Even though its not clear that its specifically ‘white people’ who have power anymore; unscrupulous white businessmen own capital, but they make deals with dictators in Africa and cartels like OPEC and in South America. Its also not about cultural relations; even in the West as we’re told to not judge any foreign cultures, since we don’t understand them; but we’re allowed to judge Western culture 100 years ago as racist and bigoted, even though must people don’t understand it.

And that’s understandable, at first. But it’s been 100 years since this started, and some people don’t realize the world has changed. Even though Africa is just as poor, you can’t place more blame on the West than you can on the UN, other international bodies, and ideologies that have nothing to do with Western traditions.

Other cultures don’t have the ability to demand respect, so they ask for it.

In a way, though, it raises an interesting chicken and egg problem - does the behavior of adults (refusing to question “established facts”) stem from our treatment as children, or does it cause us to treat our children in that way?

Or, in other words, is it *because* we were lied to so often as children that we become so willing to believe as adults - or, as adults who *want* to believe (and not have those beliefs - those “implicit truths,” i.e., rape statistics), do we then deliberately pass on that behavior to our children by lying to them?

However it started, it seems to have become self-perpetuating. What was once “just a little white lie” has become “it’s OK to lie continuously as long as the outcome is good (i.e., what you want).”

It’s less “is that what we really want our culture to be” and more “this is what our culture IS.” But hey, it’s like they say in all those [insert problem here]-Anonymous groups - “the first step is admitting you have a problem.”

I seem to be the one odd person in America who was given reasonable and rational sex ed in school. They explained the dangers, they talked about protection, they talked about abstinence, but they ultimately left it down to a choice. Either that, or I just ignored the stupid parts and paid attention to the good bits.

Oddly enough, this led me to buying more things from companies I don’t like. Why? Because if I have it, that means someone else (who might end up liking the company and buying more of their stuff) doesn’t.

if demand is not rising and there are no supply shortages, why has the cost gone up?

There is the possibility that some other factor along the supply line has increased in cost. The increased cost of everything due to the increased cost of gas is an excellent example of this. If there were a sudden shortage of, say, a material used in building car-making machines, then the cost of cars would go up because it costs more to make them.

People seem to put their trust in tangible, concrete things (government) than in abstract, amorphous things (the market). The question is: where does God lie in that?