hat can be done to eliminate the destructive influence of culture
on human society? Some may protest that this is not the case: that culture
is in fact the means of preserving the foundations of a worthwhile society;
but any objective examination will show otherwise. The apparatus of culture
creates a refuge where ideas are removed from critical scrutiny, where the
very notion, much less the act, of changing or removing them is considered
unacceptable. Such conditions should never be allowed to exist, as they can
never serve a constructive role. The entirety of human history has shown -
not just frequently, but relentlessly - that social policies that are
obviously corrupt and unjust, and would therefore otherwise be considered
unacceptable by the bulk of the population - slavery, genocide, imperialism,
every kind of exploitation - invariably manage to preserve themselves if
they have been insinuated into this rational vacuum.This should not be interpreted to mean that all culturally based ideas should be arbitrarily dismissed: exactly the opposite. This also does not suggest that a dominant culture should be imposed unilaterally. As many different lifestyles are necessary as there are different circumstances of living. The crucial issue is that all institutions and traditions should be evaluated in terms of their actual, manifest impact upon the individuals of their specific populations. Do they truly serve a constructive role? Are they the most effective and equitable means of achieving the ends they were created to achieve? Or are they being preserved out of lazy, blinkered habit; out of sentimentality and intellectual cowardice; or for the self-serving interests of a particular segment of the population? The answers to these questions should be uncomplicated: useful ideas will preserve themselves through the very fact that they are clearly, demonstrably useful.
The widespread attitude that insists that the procedures endorsed by culture are made valid and should be perpetuated merely because the previous generation (or many previous generations) has endorsed them is one of the most unfortunate manifestations of human stupidity. The delusion that historical figures were any more than flawed and shortsighted mortals is particularly tragic - as tragic as the idea that we have magically, without effort or reflection, managed to become immune to the shortcomings that have been responsible for all of the disasters in our past. That these contradictory misconceptions frequently co-exist provides a clear demonstration of those very shortcomings.
The circumstances of human existence are in a constant state of
evolution, and the tools of that existence must also continually evolve in
order to remain useful. To stubbornly cling to obsolete traditions that were
born out of long-vanished circumstances will only condemn social policies to
lag forever behind social reality. It must always be kept uppermost in mind
that all that is created by humanity is just the same as humans themselves:
flawed, limited, and temporary. Any system that wishes to be effective
absolutely must take its own limitations into account. The procedures that
form the basis of culture are no more than tools for living - at best
imperfect tools that must be continually redesigned. To invert their
importance and put human life at the service of these imperfect tools can
only have, has only ever had, disastrous results.
M2(8)