The evils of cultural protectionism

In the name of preserving cultural and traditional heritages some would rather keep cultural ‘minorities’ trapped in the dark ages, God forbid they might discover the evils of human progress and development, and specially of technology and liberalism.

People that claim to defend ancient (or not so ancient) cultures from the evil aggression of cultural globalization are not only trying to keep back the winds of progress, they are patronizing and condescending towards people that should be able to decide by themselves how they want to live.

Nobody is forced to drink Coke (I don’t) or to watch bad TV (I don’t either), it is perfectly possible and respectable to live of the earth and embrace the art of self-subsistence, I admire people that do so, and I might follow their steps some day. But trying to keep poor people ignorant and isolated, or even subsidize their lifestyle is silly, why can’t we let people decide what they believe in and what makes their life meaningful?

Cultural preservation is a form of intellectual slavery, individuals do not belong to any culture, race or ethnicity, they belong to themselves and only to themselves.

The value protecting languages

The diversity and richness of human languages is fascinating and well worth studying.

But one should never forget that languages have been a great source of division and conflict, a tool used again and again to manipulate people and to keep people ignorant and isolated.

Now, for the first time in history, we are closer than ever to have an universal language: English. It is certainly not the ‘best’ language by any objective measure, its defects are great and numerous, but that is missing the point, the value of a truly global language that everyone in this planet can understand is to at last bring everyone together, make communication between all different peoples easy and fluent, aid the spread of information, knowledge, and ideas to all mankind, and help resolve human conflicts.

At the root of most human conflicts is misunderstanding and incommunication, and the only way to resolve that is by empowering every individual to communicate his feelings by himself, without having to let someone in power claim ‘represent’ his will.

It is also one of the most powerful tools of repressive regimes to control the information people has access to, this is greatly aided by language barriers that those in power love to foment both to control the flow of information and to increase and exploit arbitrary divisions among people.

History is full of examples of how language differences have been used as an extremely powerful weapon by the most despicable nationalistic, racist, and chauvinistic regimes.

But language war is over and it is only matter of time before English takes over completely and all other languages are relegated to academic and entertainment roles. As someone else so eloquently put it: