Wrong or Different?

    "They're different than us, which means they can't be trusted." "...they're barely even human..." In the culture course that is currently keeping us very busy, we watched a short video clip that illustrated differences between two cultures. The animation showed settlers moving into a new land and emphasized some of their thoughts and feelings as they discovered native inhabitants. The most fascinating element of the video was that both groups of people -- the white settlers and the natives -- both used the same quotes. "They're different than us, which means they can't be trusted," leading to the conclusion that "they're barely even human..." 
    Each of us has a worldview, a lens through which we view the world. Our worldview causes us to make assumptions about what is normal in terms of behaviours, beliefs, and values. But as we've begun to see throughout this course, we don't even realize many of the assumptions that we make until we confront someone who operates from a different worldview. In Papua New Guinea, the culture is basically the opposite of Canadian/Western culture. Whereas our society is individualist, PNG is collectivist. Whereas our culture is time oriented, PNG is event oriented. Our culture is a "doing" culture, but a "being" culture exists in Papua New Guinea. 

    When we meet with these stark contrasts, we automatically think, which is better? Which way is right, and which way is wrong? After hearing what our presenters have had to say in this course, my question has begun to shift: What if neither is right or wrong? What if different is just different, with no value attached to it?