Equal opportunities and aspirations
In the memorable song lyrics of a vintage pop group, we can “reach for the stars”. There is a time and a place for everything, including the making of symbols that express human aspirations for eloquence and high achievement.
Years of indoctrination and conditioning have contributed towards the monolithic status of a world view that genuflects in presence of such symbols that emerged from the cultures of Europe. There are many things to admire in those artefacts. One shouldn’t dismiss the heritage and traditions of any culture without giving it a fair hearing or viewing. To do so would be to throw out the baby with the bath water, since in a wider sense, all culture belongs to all of humanity.
Because of globalisation and the internet, people from any part of the world can have access to see, hear and appreciate the amazing variety of modes of expression created by human beings, in ways that our forbears were not privy to.
As a result of this mingling and mixing of global cultures, perhaps we should also reassess the value that we attach to the symbols around us. Are there great ideas being expressed in current times that somehow get overlooked because of the old mindsets, for example?
Have a lot of babies from non European derived cultures been thrown out with bath water in the past, on the global stage? What can be done to rectify the situation?
