People living in the West value their freedom and possibilities but often do not value or respect the very same things when interacting with people from other countries and or cultures.
In the western countries, Europe and America respectively, individualism is something that we appreciate, cherish and respect as we are living in an individualistically coined society. We stand up for the human rights that include the right to freely express and share ideas without any restrictions and the right to practice our religion and culture. These rights as stated in Article 2 of the declaration of Human rights are set forward to all people without making distinctions “of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” [1]. We in the West appreciate our differences and that we are able to do and say what we want. The best example would be Frank Sinatra who said "I did it my way!".
The Japanese proverb "A nail that sticks out will be hammered", that recruits collectivism and badmouths people that stand out, however seems unacceptable for us! On the other hand that is exactly what we do when we are handling people from other countries and/or cultures! We are very quick in judging the values and habits that are unfamiliar to us and try to impose ours on other people. And even worse: we refuse to look at people as individuals but rather tend to categorize them into groups that are ruled by our stereotypes and prejudices imposed on us by the media, our education and upbringing at home. Not uncommonly I hear people talk about "the Muslims" that are all terrorists, wife-hitters and rapists. Or "the Africans" that are uneducated, poor and are in urgent need of the West for financial and development aid.
So why do we demand our own freedom and right to be valued and seen as individuals but at the same time strip others of those very same rights? I find this perverse and shocking and am convinced that this has to change if we want to ensure respect and effective communication and exchange between different countries and or cultures. Only if communication starts to happen face to face and if we are open to listen to, question and accept other ideas, cultural practices and perspectives we will be able to exchange ideas effectively and maybe even find compromises and solutions to many problems.
But how can we overcome this dilemma?
[1] (UN)
