Culture Different－MA Nan-Hsuan

放上8月28日的課堂報告。雖然因為這篇報告而 upgrade 到 high advace class。但說實在的，心理很虛。畢竟短時間的衝刺，根基不穩、不紮實，我的英文程度還是一個不行、不流利，唉，挫折。

有一夜白髮的案例，阿有沒有一夜變成英語通的？

如果有，快點告訴我。

Culture Different

Student: Nan-Hsuan MA

Teacher: Martin

Date:Aug.27.2008

我想從馬庫斯的《單向度的人》來談文化差異。

I would like to talk about “Cultural Difference” from One Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse.

馬庫色論及，先進攻頁社會的意識形態生產了虛假需求、虛假意識以及單向度的集體意識。它也描繪了解放、科技、文化與民主是雙向的類別。解放的辯證—從現存的、虛假的社會中解放—是可以達成的，因為物質條件已經達到了某種程度，在那種程度下，立即的躍進自由的領域是可能的，但是意識形態的操弄仍然可以阻擋激進的社會改變（變遷）。

Marcuse argues that the ideology of advanced industrial society produces false needs, false consciousness and one-dimensional mass consciousness. He also outlines categories such as liberation, technology, culture and democracy as dialectical ones. The dialectic of liberation -- liberation from the existing, false society -- could be achieved because the material conditions have reached a level where an immediate jump into the realm of freedom would be possible, but ideological manipulations still could forestall radical social change.

簡單的說，馬庫色告訴我們，如果你仔細的觀察高度資本主義社會，你會得知，它和極權社會一樣會製造單向度的人。這些人過著平凡的生活，而且不比其他人通常思考的來得多。極權社會的單向度，是因為有權力的人不喜歡不同的聲音。資本主義社會中的單向度，是因為我們被物質社會給吸收了。

To make it simple, Marcuse told us that, if you look at the highly capitalism society carefully, you would learn, it makes “one-dimensional people” as well as the totalitarian society does. These people live ordinary lives and don’t think more than what other people usually think. The one-dimension in a totalitarian society is because the people have power don’t like different voices. The one-dimension in a capitalism society is because we are absorbed by a material society.

好比說，現在，大家的日常生活服飾都是穿牛仔褲、T-Shirt。還有誰穿著自己文化的傳統服飾在大街上走？除非特殊活動、節日，否則穿傳統服飾的人恐怕招來異樣的眼光。

For example, we wear the jean and t-shirt everyday. Does anyone wear his/her own traditional clothes? Except for special event and holiday, if you wear traditional clothes, people would think you are strange.

這意味著，在這種社會中的思考是單向度的。如果有何不同的聲音或行為，它馬上就會被壓制。所以，單向度的思考成為新的意識形態—我們的思維自發的、不經過較深層思考的思考方式，以及每個人就會相信它、跟隨它。最糟的是，長期來說，人們會失去反思與抵抗（戰鬥）的勇氣。所以，我們會漸漸地成為生活在另一種極權社會中的人類。我們看其他人的方式變得一樣，而且我們不會想到個體性的存在。更進一步，我們會認為我們思考的方式，就是所有人都應該思考的方式。

This means, thinking in this kind of society is one-dimensional. If there were any different voice or behavior, it would be suppressed immediately. So, one-dinesional thinking becomes the new ideology – the way our minds think spontaneously without deeper thinking, and everybody would believe it and follow it. The worst is that, in the long run, people will loss the braveness to reflect and to fight. So, we gradually become a people living in another kind of totalitarian society. The ways we see other people become the same, and we don’t think about the existence of the individuality. Moreover, we may think the way we think is the way all the people should think.

例如，當我們還是小小的學童的時候，我們永遠有一兩個自以為是的同學。他們會說：「這堂課真無聊，老師必需扮小丑，才能得到學生的注意力。」或者，他們可能會說：「那個人瘋了，不要當他的朋友。」他們還影響其他學童用同樣的方式思考。這就是單向度的人的一個例子。

For example, when we are young school kids, we always have one or two self-righteous classmates. They would say: “This course is boring. Teacher must play clown to have students’ attention.” Or they might say: “That guy is crazy. Don’t be friend to him.” They also influence other school kids to think in the same way. This is an example of one-dimensional people.

或許，妳覺得課程很無聊，但一定也會有人覺得課程很有趣。否則，大學裡就不會有這麼多的科系存在，也不會有一堆人嚮往大學的學術氣氛；妳不喜歡一個人，並不能代表大家都不喜歡他，不被妳喜歡的那個人難道完全沒有朋友嗎？

Maybe you feel the course is boring, but maybe someone feels interesting. So there’re various departments in a university. Maybe you don’t like someone, this situation doesn’t mean everybody doesn’t like he/she, either. The one, who you don’t like, should have some friends.

我們有幸從各地來到這裡，並一同學習。不管你的職業將會是醫生、商人，或者各行各業，我們在生物學的分類上，都是相同的物種：人類。不論你的來自亞洲、美洲、歐洲、大洋洲，或非洲，我們都一同生活在地球上。

We, from worldwide to aggregate here and to learn English together, are lucky. Whoever you’ll be a doctor, businessman, or doing other jobs, all of us are the same sort in the biology -- the Homo Sapiens. Wherever you come from, Asia, America, Europe, Africa, or Oceania, we all live on the same earth.

這裡顯示了一個「同一」、「共同體」的概念。

Here reveals the notions of the “Unitary” and “Community”.

但是我們不要忘了，不同的地理環境，促成不同的歷史，也因著不同的文化背景使我們彼此「差異」。好比說，有人用筷子吃飯，有人用刀叉，當然也有民族直接用手吃飯。但這代表文化水準的高低嗎？

But, we shouldn’t forget that different geographies make different histories. Different cultural backgrounds make us different. For instance, some people eat with chopsticks, some with knifes and forks, and some people use their hands. Does this mean the higher or lower of the quality of cultures?

不。

No.

上週，我們在課堂上讀到美國的西部拓荒，文章的重點是白人的拓荒行為看似為白人帶來土地、財富與安頓。但是，也為北美洲原住民——印地安人的生活帶來浩劫。這說明了，事情總是一體兩面，或者更多面向。

Last week, we read the frontier of west America. The main idea is the people, who were frontier, (not only) earned the land and fortune, and settle down their life; but also let America natives—Indians’ life became worse. It reveals that everything has two sides of it, or more.

問題是，我們可有像作者的反省批判的能力？又或者，我們敢承認彼此不同立場、不同解讀？

The question is, could we reflect and criticize? On the other hand, could we recognize each other’s opposite interpretation and angle? I think this needs braveness.

時間是線性的。我們永遠活在當下。即使是過去的那一秒，它就是過去了的。而且，下一秒永遠是未來。然而，文化的發展不是線性的，尤其在不同文化之間不是。所謂的文明，一般來說，是進步的象徵。但是文明製造了全球暖化的問題。所以進步真的是進步的嗎？進步真的為我們帶來快樂嗎？不丹的人民擁有1,400美金的平均個人年收入，但是他們排名第八，在英國萊塞斯特大學一位心理學家一份《世界快樂地圖》研究中。

Time is linear. We always live at right now. Even it is the past second, it is past, and next second is always the future. However, the development of culture is not linear, especially not between different cultures. So called civilization, generally, is a symbol of progress. But, civilization makes the problem of global warming. So is the progress really progressive? Does progress bring happiness in us? The people of Bhutan have an individual average annual income of 1,400 dollars, but they are ranked 8^th happiest in the study “World Map of Happiness” by a psychologist at University of Leicester in England.