Reply #60: Acculturation. The trade of cultures

[LanternWaste]

Acculturation. The trade of cultures (both ways-- not one way or the other) when two cultures meet, trade and live together. It's part and parcel of human history, and it rarely matters if it's due to a war, immigration, or disease-- both cultures adapt to the other.

Mexican cuisine is part of Mexican culture-- is that something that should be given up to assimilate better? If not, what is the precise and relevant difference?

What about different regional cultures (i.e., the greater Southwest vs. New England)? Should one be given up over the other in order to have a better standardized culture?

Is there an objective and measurable test on how much culture one can retain after moving to a new country and how much one should divest of themselves from?

When I lived in Cancun, should I have stopped listening to the Beatles, stopped eating Philly cheese steak sandwiches and turned from Presbyterian to Orthodox Catholic simply because I lived on the other side of an imaginary red border drawn on a map? Else... why did I go there in the first place?


Or (and I find this more likely), would it be more effective, efficient, and peaceful to simply accept those small differences between us. Embracing and celebrating them as they are all part of the human race. Taking the best that is in all of us, and turning our backs on the worst, and overlooking insignificant distempers such as language (and I feel compelled to say that anyone can understand anyone else-- regardless of language barriers, if we simply try-- which is what we should be doing anyway).