-^-for posterity-^-

my cultural observations:

confucianism and individualism. that’s how the class would describe the difference between the west and the east. some of them would start by saying, ‘individualism and communism’ but i would quickly note that communism was a western import. where was marx from anyway?

what is confucianism and what is individualism? this is my view: individualism says that we are all islands; we all make decisions. we choose the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the lifestyle that we adhere to. our society had a number of different groups or cliques and we are diverse. we are all islands. we stand apart from one another and make our own choices. this does not mean that we do not influence each other. some islands that are closer to me will influence me more greatly. for example, my parents will have a larger impact on me than some farmer in western wyoming.

confucianism is similar. everyone is still an island for no one can escape the reality that we all make decisions for ourselves. even if the decision is to follow someone completely, that is still a decision made by the individual. so, we are still islands. the difference is that the islands have a greater effect on one another. if one island says something, the other islands can easily observe and follow course.

there are some similarities that people don’t normally look at. for example, in western culture, sometimes the islands are in close proximity to one another. when high school students attempt to fit into cliques, they do everything in their power to be as uniform as everyone else even if it means being different from the whole. people will watch one another and emulate the most fashionable clothes and the most popular way of relating to one another. in this way, islands are grouped closely together. in eastern society, the islands are grouped closely, but nothing like the close grouping of cliques. fashionable cliques, whether they be pro-status quo or anti-status quo, are islands that influence each other, in some ways, more powerfully than family.

in eastern culture, these cliques do not exist. there are some groupings of people but nothing as strident as we can see in america. when people follow one another, they do so following preset guidelines. these guidelines have been understood for generations. the laws of society are known. in america, the laws are ever-changing. the laws do not exist.

so, in my view, we are all islands, east and west. we exert different amounts of pressure on one another based on predetermined cultural differences. sometimes the east can put more pressure on an island and sometimes the west.

culture’s are fascinating. understanding them is all assumptions. the above was wholly my opinion.