It Takes A Village Witch Doctor
Once upon a time, not long ago, a public figure wrote a book called "It Takes A Village." The book took its inspiration from the wisdom of African culture, where it is customary (usually, I suppose) for entire villages to take interest in the raising of the village children.
That's all well and good, but first of all - since when has African culture proven a guiding light in terms of social ethics and customs? I'm sorry, but female genital mutilation, cannibalism, high infant mortality rates, demon worship and rampant genocide don't give me much confidence in terms of overall societal health.
If you want it straight, it takes a family to raise a child. One dad, one mom and one eye on God.
Perhaps what that public figure really meant was, "It Takes A Village Witch Doctor." That seems more in line with liberal multi-cultural thought these days.
That's all well and good, but first of all - since when has African culture proven a guiding light in terms of social ethics and customs? I'm sorry, but female genital mutilation, cannibalism, high infant mortality rates, demon worship and rampant genocide don't give me much confidence in terms of overall societal health.
If you want it straight, it takes a family to raise a child. One dad, one mom and one eye on God.
Perhaps what that public figure really meant was, "It Takes A Village Witch Doctor." That seems more in line with liberal multi-cultural thought these days.
posted by ToadRocket at 10:02 AM
16 Comments:
Couldn't we point to the same sorts of things in our culture (rampant premarital sex, drug use, high gun crime, divorce rates, consumerism, Britney Spears) and say the same sorts of things about "our qualifications" as a model for raising children? Every culture has it's strengths & weaknesses. We are all human and all sinners but that doesn't mean we have nothing to teach eachother.
ps. Question asked because I really want to know what you think....not just to rabble rouse.
Heh...I know you're not rabble-rousing. You don't strike me as that type. I kinda suspect we're going to differ on this issue. I don't deny that western civ has some serious issues. However, I think the cultures of the west (Mediterannean basin/Judeo-Christian cultures, etc) have been given a lot more. More is expected of us, I think, from a divine point of view and, consequently, we also are capable of plumbing greater depths of depravity with our advancements. Two-edged sword.
The tribal cultures do have things to teach, but I would argue that they don't have much to teach. No complex traditions of art, music, philosophy, medicine, sciences, political thought, you name it.
I know it's completely politically incorrect, but different cultures are just simply very inequal in what they have and how they operate. My brother Mike lives down in the Amazon (he's a bush-pilot) and some of the tribes he flies into are just incredibly basic and depraved, delighting in murder, suicide, pederasty. Short, nasty, brutish lives... not that we can't achieve the same depths here, but we've been given so much more opportunity, and with it, responsibility.
Okay, enough blathering from me.
Your posts just always beg for comment and I'm always shocked no one has. : )
Maybe tribal culture doesn't have as many nuanced academic things to teach, but I still feel like they remember some of the more basic truths that can get lost here in our pursuit of academia individualism. But I agree they also rely on more basic forms of things like power struggle, which can get darn ugly. Sounds like we sort of agree on that?
I suppose both glamourization & demonization are equally harmful & damaging.....
Thanks for the vote of confidence on my writing. I suspect, though, that my topics are a little too all-over-the-place to sustain niche interest (ie., as opposed to someone like Misha, who keeps admirably focused on issues of motherhood, children, family, etc.).
Ouch, but yes, you're right--unfortunately the kids are being raised by the village as a third of many nations' populations are dying from AIDS. Tragic. Maybe that's what the author meant.
As for culture value, it's something we (here in Alaska) face all the time. The native culture seems to survive based only on government subsidy and not through societal contribution.
Nah, I like reading about your Jasmine plant with a dose of anti-Islam sarcasm thrown in to spice it up.
I just can't help myself.
The AIDs epidemic is tragic... though I don't think Mrs. Clinton was referring to that effect when she wrote the book.
Interesting to see Uganda's approach to AIDs and the reaction, internal and external, that that is getting.
hmm... I feel stuck in the past still commenting on this post, but are you refering to the abstinence message in Uganda and how its become a model of success for aids prevention? Post on that tomorrow so we can chat in present time. I haven't read anything about it for a year or so, has it been mentioned recently?
Don't be fooled. She IS a rabble-rouser. Of the worst sort.
I think what you are writing about (even though I am obviously late in the comment-round) begs the question about community. Are you saying it doesn't take community to raise a child? Surely not! (That's my rabble-rousing.) Because it is IMPOSSIBLE (ephasis added mine) to raise a child without community and I think that is what Clinton is referring to, no?
However defect and human our communities are, with whatever misguided punctuation and influence, it cannot be done alone and it's weaknesses and strengths are our very opportunities for teaching and discipleship of our children. And the idea of it just being me, my husband and our eye on God - the potential danger I see in that is isolating ourselves and modelling that to our children. As a culture we are already so independent, and as mothers can be so isolated by nature of housing development trends, urban planning and the way church is generally "done."
We are called to be in community. Or a village, if you will, regardless of the cultural variances in applications of that. Be it church, your neighbourhood street, your close friends you intentionally surround yourself with, your culture you can teach from and apply....
And as a mom I know it's imperative to my survival, encouragement, support and the kid's discipleship, babysitting and values impartation.
whew.
My Dad clarified for me the other day that the "problem" with hilary's "it takes a village" concept from the conservative point of view is that she see's the government's role in that village as being pretty huge. That is what my dad takes offense over, not the idea of community. Community is great, giant government beauracracies lording over the community... not so great.
If we all end up voting for the village. Could I be the one that leads it??
I completely agree with Kari's dad. That's the crux of the problem right there.
Ah, Lionel the Benevolent Despot, ruler of Grand Pumbalia... I can see you now. Little coolies bring you martinis, dancing girls, various folks getting tossed to the crocodiles...
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