On my journey to visit every country in the world, I
come across a variety of different lifestyles, cultures, mindsets and
politics. As of writing this blog, I have been to 89 out of 195 countries,
including places like Iceland, Afghanistan, Colombia, China, Belarus and
Uganda. All of the these countries couldn’t possibly be more different from
each other. In this blog post, I want to take you on a cultural journey – a
mini tour around the world.
1. We have Iceland, the most equal country in the world, where
feminism is a
big thing, gay marriage normal, a 30 minute bus ride can cost $35
and the
people seek to improve their lives through technology, innovation
and social
change.
2. Next up, Afghanistan, the most conservative country in the
world
(personal
opinion), where being gay can cause a death penalty, strict dress
codes are
in place all over the country and in certain areas, women don’t even
have
names. A plate of street food costs $0.10 and the population tries
to hold
on to their traditions, their islamic values and concepts of social
hierarchy and order.
3. Then, Colombia, a country famous for its parties, a big
nightlife scene
and
here and there some gang violence. The people live for the moment
and –
despite being officially christian – live their own proud Colombian
identity
freely. If they want to be with someone for the night, so be it. A
lot of
people live in poverty and seek refuge in criminal gangs and
underground
business.
4. Now China, a socialist country with very limited freedoms
for the
individual. Despite not following a traditional religion, the
country
preserves its social structure through law-enforcement, social
pressure,
politics and censoring content on the internet. It feels very safe
to be in,
as there is practically no stealing, murder or other criminal
offences and
surveillance cameras are everywhere.
5. Belarus, the last dictatorship in Europe. People are proud
of their
eastern
heritage, the country is extremely clean with almost no garbage to
be found
on the streets. No freedom of speech, but being so close to western
countries, a lot of people know their stand and are against the
dictatorship. A country in change that will not have the same system
10
years from now. Mark my word.
6. Lastly, Uganda. Very poor, very dirty and a lack of basic
infrastructure
wherever you look. Economically, one of the worst countries to live
in. A
lack of schools and education contribute further to the vicious
cycle of
poverty, unemployment or if any, very bad paying jobs. The people
don’t seem
to have the mindset or will to attempt a change of structure for the
country
but further continue to litter and work only when they have to, a
big reason
being the very hot climate.
Now, the question: With just these 6 countries (from 195!) being so
different from each other, how can you possibly keep an “open”
mindset,
connect with people and most importantly: how can you form your own
opinion
without being disrespectful? Well, it is a tough question to ask and
even
tougher to answer. Of course, growing up in Germany has anchored
values into
me (like punctuality, being reliable, a work work work attitude, and
a
generally forward-thinking mindset). Not all of these values are
either good
or bad. Take that “work work work” attitude that Germans are famous
for all
over the world. It’s a true cliché. Many Germans fail to enjoy life
because
work overruns them. They don’t fight this by partying more (as
people would
in Colombia for example) but instead, Germans try to become more
efficient,
to get more done again, and be overrun by the next, more advanced
task that
follows. It’s a vicious cycle here again.
Hence follows: German people are cold. To a degree, that’s true.
Although
it’s always the environment and the culture that influences a
person, not
the biology necessarily. For example: Would I dare say African
people are
dirty, because the city of Kampala is? No, that would be utterly
racist and
incorrect. It’s not the people, it’s the lack of waste management
and the
habit of littering that is so common in the country that people have
come to
see it as something normal.
A similar thing happened to me in the country of Jordan. When locals
eat in
a restaurant, a lot of the food gets thrown away in the end. I was
shocked!
I wanted to speak up and educate them about food waste and ethics
until I
realised: They are not bad people. Leaving food on the table and
dumping the
rest has a long tradition in Arabic countries. It comes from the
hospitality
of wanting to feed and treat your guest as well as possible, so in
earlier
times, not leaving anything on the plate meant that the food offered
was not
sufficient to the guest. Thus, leaving food and in western words
“wasting
food” has always been seen as something normal.
And that’s the point: WHAT IS NORMAL?!
Is it normal for me to kill someone because I am in a civil war in
Libya? Is
it normal for me to sacrifice my fun in life because I am in the
work heaven
of Germany? Where do you draw the line, what is culturally
acceptable,
sustainable, respectful to others while at the same time preserving
my
personal freedom? Well in short, this utopian mindset-building
doesn’t
really work anywhere in the world. Before I give my personal
opinion, let’s
look at a geo-political thesis.
Colder countries are richer than hot countries. Generally true, with
some
small exceptions that can be disregarded using further geopolitical
information. The UAE for example is a very hot & rich country, same
goes for
other gulf states like Qatar and Bahrain. But this can be explained
using
only a single natural resource: oil. It doesn’t change the overall
statement
of “colder countries are generally richer than hot countries”. Quite
the
opposite. It shows that if a natural resource is so important like
oil,
other socio-political factors can be diminished by the sheer
influence of
that very resource.
Colder countries are richer than hot countries. What are the
causes?
Some
will only blame history and the influence of colonialism for
example. While
true to some degree, what caused colonialism in the first place
then?
Tradition? Mindset? Then what were the causes of that?
It appears that a colder climate makes more productive people. In
the early
ages, living in South America or Africa was possible without great
effort
compared to Europe. In warm climates, you didn’t have to fear
freezing to
death or being killed by a mammoth. Crops could be harvested all
year round
while in Europe, a single snow storm could wipe out the entire
village by
killing the yearly harvest. Wouldn’t that mean that hot countries
are richer
than cold countries because of their advantage? Well, yes! It
appears that
the richest man in history was Musa Musa from Mali, a very hot
country. What
about the people groups that lived before Europeans started
dominating the
world? Egyptians lived in a hot climate. We know about the Maya
peoples in
Central America that lived in a hot climate. The Inkas in South
America that
lived in a hot climate and the list goes on. All these people groups
dominated their respective parts of the world.
But humans are an intelligent species that, when in trouble, seeks
to
optimise their conditions. And well, in Europe it was a true
survival of the
strongest. If your house fell victim to a snow storm, you died. If
your
crops failed because you didn’t protect them enough, you died. If
you
couldn’t keep yourself warm throughout the winter, you died. This
produced a
rational mindset in people, an attitude focussed on surviving and
optimisation. It wasn’t that the people chose to be productive and
efficient, they had to be. So throughout the centuries, the world
shifted as
technology started to become more important. Europeans soon became
the
ruling people group using weapons, advanced technology and social
structure.
The native Africans, Americans and pretty much any other people
group in
warmer climates didn’t have the need to advance so rapidly. When a
crop
failed, there were plenty of other crops that could be cultivated,
not just
once a year. Through this lack of innovation, Europeans seized
control over
the world. This brought all the misery we know as slave trade,
genocides,
racial segregation and so on. Of course increasing globalisation
contributed
further to the development.
What is normal then?
How should we shape our values?
Well first of all I believe it is important to acknowledge
(especially as
Europeans) how and why we ended up in the current situation of the
world.
Then we recognise global trends and recent developments in the
world. For
example, the world is moving closer together than ever before in
history.
Cooperation is a necessity nowadays, as we have the technology to
wipe out
the entire planet within minutes. Cooperation and collaboration
between
countries is essential to grant the wellbeing of the global
population. 500
years ago, there wasn’t such thing as a UN general assembly. The
term
“country” didn’t mean a lot either. There were kingdoms, empires and
tribes
living in parallel. Nowadays, we can’t exist in parallel, we need to
work
together. Countries now form unions. Sometimes these unions break
apart or
develop into new countries. Just have a look at the EU. Is it a
country? No,
it is a union of countries. Will it be a country in 100 years? Quite
possibly. Ultimately, it depends on how you define a
country.
Now my personal approach: The maxim of the open-mind
Having looked at the history and the modern world alike, we see that
cooperation is necessary. So for creating our own opinion and
mindset, it is
mandatory that we don’t discriminate against people that think
otherwise.
Cooperation is not impossible when two parties fundamentally
disagree.
Cooperation only becomes impossible when one side tries to destroy
the other
one’s opinion (or the people itself) or impose, for whatever reason,
certain
restrictions, limitations or threats on either their own people or
the
opposite side so no agreement can be reached. In the modern world we
see for
example that Pakistani citizens are not allowed to travel to the
state of
Israel. This is enforced by the Pakistani law, so it is an imposing
of rules
to their own people that makes cooperation with the other side
(Israel)
nearly impossible. Most commonly however, we see that countries
impose rules
and regulations to one another instead of to their own people. Take
the
United States and Iran for example. The US sanctioned the Iranian
government
and the lives of Iranian citizens became harder. Now these sanctions
will
have their reason somewhere, but cooperation is now a
near-impossible task.
I am not saying that sanctions as such are a bad thing. But as an
individual
traveller, you can’t have sanctions against people groups. We are
not
countries, we are individuals.
And this is why you need to differentiate between people and
politics.
Always.
So to back up: Our mindest as travellers needs to be open. We can’t
have
sanctions against people groups. We need to be respectful at all
times in
order to align with our steady goal of enabling cooperation.
But wait, does that mean I can’t have an opinion? Do I have to act
like
Switzerland and always stay neutral? No and no, but if in doubt,
staying
neutral is a great attribute to have as a traveller. Sometimes you
get into
tricky and even dangerous situations so staying as neutral as
possible can
be the key to escape the situation.
However. In most cases it is obviously good to have an opinion. The
question
is just, how can you convey it without being disrespectful and how
can you
form a mindset when everyone thinks something else? Remember
Iceland,
Afghanistan, Colombia, China, Belarus and Uganda. If you ask a
random
stranger in every one of these countries, how life is supposed to be
lived,
you will get a variety of different answers. Is following a
tradition still
possible and socially okay in modern times? As long as it doesn’t
harm
anyone, yes. And how do you determine whether it harms anyone? –
Through the
maxim of the open mind:
I always ask the question: Is this behaviour justified? Is it
unnecessarily
disrespectful towards someone who is innocent?
What about female circumcision? Is it justified? As a person that
tries to
be as liberal as possible, no. Its sole purpose is rooted in gender
inequality. And as we have analysed above, you shouldn’t
unnecessarily
discriminate against a people group – that includes women. Otherwise
cooperation becomes near-impossible, which violates our goal of a
peaceful
global community. Hence, female circumcision is not justifiable.
Forbidding
women to enjoy sexual intercourse is morally against the maxim of
having an
open mindset. And this is exactly where I draw the line. If a
culture,
tradition or ritual is justified (meaning it has a reason behind it)
AND
doesn’t hurt, harm or kill anyone innocent who does not want to be
involved
according to his or her own free will, it should be preserved.
Otherwise, it
is unjustifiable from a modern point of view.
I draw the line between morality and culture where culture can’t
justify its
actions. Moral should always control culture and not vice versa. And
yes,
the understanding of morality differs greatly throughout the world.
But if
we aim to establish a global, peaceful community, having an
open-mind is
absolutely mandatory. Only then can we avoid war, conflict and
suffering.
So in short, we should always differentiate between a country and
the people
that live in it. As for culture, we should ask the question: Can
this
culture/tradition justify its rules and behaviours without violating
the
maxim of an open-mind, that is to not discriminate/harm/kill or
inflict any
negative consequences on people that disagree with it, don’t want to
live
according to it, or think otherwise? It should also not discriminate
against
a generalised people group, otherwise living in harmony peacefully
is
impossible.
This is my take on culture and tradition.
Thank you so much for reading until the end.
Message me your opinion @thegermantravelguy on Instagram, I’d love
to hear
how you see the topic.