  My mentor sent me an email. which I thought was worth sharing There are so many things I wanted to say while reading your letter,  that it actually got me out of bed again-  FIrst,  Its critical that you remain open- minded,
 not let your prejudices cloud your viewpoint. especially since you have so little real exposure to other cultures in situ.  you make a number of comments very derogatory to western civilization ( corrupted,  fake,  commercial)
 that reveals your distaste and bias against it. So,  before I get too far into this,  tell me if there is any evidence,  any argument possible,  that would dispel that belief (
not that I particularly want to)  If not,  then you are holding your views as a religious person,  in which facts and rationality take a back seat to prior learning,  indoctrination,  and negative emotions.
 ( note,  this comp does not have a " return"  key,  so this will just sort of flow James Joyce style)
 You speak of the corruption of other cultures. It is true that the west has influenced others,  as they have us,  however,  the use of corrupted is emotive- there are extremely good arguments to be made,
 as a liberal,  that these influences have been greatly for the better,  but again,  that would be judgemental.  You also think that western culture is shallow,  fake,
 and commercial-  in some ways,  perhaps,  but your own outlook is as western ( far more so in many ways than mine)  as is possible.
 I seriously doubt that you consider yourself,  your views,  as shallow and silly.  As well,  I doubt that the other individual people in the west think they have shallow,  ridiculous views.
 ( Keep in mind,  a culture is made of the collective values of the individuals in it)  Regarding our influence on other cultures,  you'll be happy to know that it is much less than it used to be,  and growing weaker each year.
At the turn of the last century,  all of Africa,  China,  Japan,  Indo- china,
 and India were totally western dominated-  Japanese businessmen wore suits,  the ruling class in CHina was all western- educated,  the governments of Africa were puppet regimes.  Western countries directly controlled over 90%
 of the population of the planet. this during a time in which the west saw itself as a universal culture,  assured of its superiority,  and forcefully attempted to indocrinate western views ( see " The Rabbit-
Proof Fence"  for example)  Today,  the west directly controls less than 20%  of the world population,  China,
 Africa,  and the Muslim states are very much different cultures than the west,  latin America is becoming increasingly indian- ized etc etc.  The west as a whole controls far less resources,  money,
 natural products,  military power,  industry,  technology than it once did,  and the gap is shrinking.  In addition,
 you speak of the " west"  as if its a monolithic,  unchanging entity.  In truth,  the culture of the US is increasingly becoming seperate from that of Europe,
 and will continue to do so.  Population growth in the US is primarily due to Hispanic and Asian immigration,  while that of Europe is due primarily to the influx of prior communist populations.  Asians and Hispanics tend to be social conservative,  and in the case of Asians,  economically conservative,
 while the polish,  east germans,  etc will tend to be economically ( but not socially)  liberal.  In addition,
 western culture today is far far different than it was 100 years ago.  At around 1900,  the only county in which you could have found a fairly large group agreeing with modern western concepts was the US-  which was,  until the last 50 years,  by far the most liberal country in the world.
 THere is a fascinating book called " The clash of cultures"  which outlines 7 major civilizations currently extant ( of course one can parse them any way one wishes,  but there is good rationale for this choice)  I've experienced all of them first-
hand,  some of them for long periods of time,  and have found things I liked and things I didnt like about each.  I was also struck,  in my travels,  at the incredible narrowness of views in most foreign countries.
these places do not have the North American history of multiple peoples coming together,  nor any tradition of personal opinion,  individual rebellion,  or the concept of self- esteem.  Though the US and Europe have exported many trappings of western society (
McDonalds,  hollywood)  these in reality have very very little influence on the core culture. Cultural waters run extraordinarily deep,  and this is true to an even greater extent in western culture.  Another thing I was struck by,
 is the incredibly poor way women are treated in almost every otehr culture. African,  Latin American,  Arabic,  Japanese,  Indian.
Not only do these cultures not espouse gender equality,  they actively and vigorously denounce it.  One of the first of my " central tenets"  that fell was the idea that everyone believed,  way down deep,
 that all peopel should be equal.  In fact,  cultures in which people believe in gender equality account for a small minority of people- THe majority of the world thinks women are demonstrably ( and in many cases pre- ordained by God)
 inferior to men.  Another shock was the deep- seated hatred and loathing for homosexuality.  In the great majority of places,  this action is punishable by death ( Africa both north and sub-
saharan,  China,  almost all Arab countries,  Iran,  most of SW Asia)  or imprisonment (
India,  many south american countries)  Acceptance of this is present in perhaps 10%  of the worlds population,  all of them western.  Attitudes towards children were shocking to me in some places-
Of interest,  China and Japan share with the west a great love of kids,  and avoid physical punishment,  but in much of the arab,  latin American,  and African worlds,
 children are regularly beaten,  often severely ( this varies a great deal in Africa,  less so in the Muslim world)  Attitudes towards wealth also were interesting-  In China and the Eastern European areas,
 those with wealth were mistrusted and disliked-  This attitude is present,  but reduced.  In western cultures-  BUt in Africa,  Japan,
 India,  and the Muslim world,  wealty people are treated like walking Gods- Untouchable,  and deserving of the position they hold.  In fact,
 the role of " strong- man"  is much more prevelant in other cultures than here,  and people will put up with much more abuse from those stronger then they,  because they feel it is the right of strong people to act this way.
 One last thing- other cultures are not zoos,  in which their precious little attitudes and habits should be preserved so we in the west can enjoy them-  Cultures are rapidly evolving entities,  constantly influenced by foreign forces and internal developments.  Western culture is fairly new,
 but in reality,  all the cultures are. our roots go back to Rome ( though Rome stole most its culture wholesale from Greece)  the Hebrews,  the Orthodox church,
 etc.  We are not really " like"  the Romans or Greeks,  or even Imperial Europe,  though they were our cultural "
parents"  India is not like it was in 1800,  but then again,  in 1800 it was far different than it was in 1700.  For the last 50 years,  India and Japan have been free to pursue their own evolution-
 they have accepted some of what the west offered,  and rejected others.  Europe was heavily influenced by the Moors in Spain,  from which many things were added to European culture,  and others rejected.  To think that the west can willy-
nilly go into a place and overturn its culture is to fall for the same sin you despise,  that of believing that western culture is so much more powerful,  more attractive,  more universal than any other that mere exposure will kill the host.  Other cultures are as deeply held and strong as ours,  and the people in them are not children to be spoon-
fed new systems.  Take Japan-  Would they have been better off if Com.  Perry hadnt forced western trade on them?  The great majority of Japanese would say no-  they were feudal,
 extremely poor,  and had no technology or medicine to speak of,  not were they exposed to any other culture but their own.  To say we should have left them thus is to treat them as sub- human,  too delicate to speak with or trade with as adults and peers.
 Western culture has had a strong influence on the world,  but it has hardly overturned other civilizations-  And the influence it has had has been one of ideas,  paradigms,  not commercial interests nor shallowness. McDonalds is not going to make a Muslim turn to Christ,
 nor is Hollywood going to convince the Chinese that homosexuality is OK,  but the idea,  and demonstration,  of personal freedom,  of weak democratic governments,  of the strength of science over superstition-
these are the things that change cultures.
