The Glory of Culture

Yesterday, I was nattering on about how holding on to cultural traditions is bad.  Today, well, the opposite (this is the true frustrating joy of the strange loop).

Because, in fact, I also see a deep, and human, need for culture.  It roots us, and tells us who we are.  Unfortunately, it all too often tells us who we are not.  That is - we are not that group of people over there . . . this is the negative-side of culture, but all cultural tradition is conservative by definition.

But in the end, I believe that cultural freedom is important and necessary, even if it is conservative in its nature.  So, going back to what I was writing yesterday, I do actually admire and believe in the strength giving aspects of Chicanoism, Black Nationalism, Boricuaism, etc.  I also think there is something to be said for Americanism.  But I think all of these cultural traditions need to be placed within a context that allows for challenges to the cultural norm: that sees the cultural as inclusive as opposed to exclusive, that doesn't define itself by what it is not.

But I also am considering the possibility (I am unsure of the answer) that culture, again by definition, does exactly what I fear: define itself by what it is not.  Culture is inherently exclusive.  Which pushes me towards a nihilistic approach: fuck everything, burn it all to the ground - a position of absolute opposition to everything and everyone.  

But, fearless reader, I am yet an optimist, and I think this is where my pragmatism and my optimism go hand in hand: I don't seek perfection - just improvement.  Perhaps culture will never (can never) be defined other than by what it is not . . . but it can do better than it does now.