Re: [Leica] country of origin

["Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com>]

Emanuel-
My friend, I think that you had fallen into the trap that most of us either
fall into or actually set ourselves!
What I mean is that even if we are supposedly 'culturally' aware, and
attempt to be 'culturally diverse', our perceptions are colored by our own
culture, regardless.
Unfortunately, we can ofetn mis-interpret what is being said by another, and
I think that is what happened to you! I personally find it amusing that
while many people clamour for us to be culturally diverse and accepting of
others cultures, that the same people are vocal in decrying the circumcision
of women, the eating of human flesh, the taking of life in vendettas, human
sacrafice, and other cultural arifacts. It is proper to be culturally
diverse as long as the culture or cultural practice in question does not
offend the cultural sensibilities of that person!

As a student of sociology, I was indoctrinated in what Edward O. Wilson
termed the Standard Social Science Model that held that human minds do not
cause culture, but that cultures create the human mind- so we get
sterotypical thinking. Some may contrue then that if you wonder about
products of Portugal being the same quality and standard as those from
Germany that you are questioning the culture, because they see the it a
product of the mind and if it is 'different' (in comparative terms-
inferior) than the products would be inferior.

This would be the perception no matter what you said or what you meant. In
actuality, culture is developed by the mind to meet the needs of the given
society and its environment. Compare our western based culture, created in a
temperate climate, with relative easy access to food, shelter and clothing.
Then compare it to say, the Inuit culture that has sprung up in one of the
most hostile environments we can imagine. Now, some would say that their
culture was 'backward' or primitive, yet in terms of what their minds have
created to deal with their living conditions, it is a marvel of structure
and logical thinking. I daresay that as a person coming from a white
European based culture, that if I were plunked down in that environment, I
wouldn't last a day... so much for what would be perceived by some as a
'superior' culture.

On a less obvious note, some would feel that the Portugese might not be
culturally capable of achieving the high degree of technical skill and
expertise to build a German designed camera, and this falls into the trap of
the Standard Social Science Model.

Take for instance, watches, about which there was a lengthy discussion
earlier this year. Right now, you can buy in certain parts of China watches
that were made on machinery made and sold to the Chinese by Rolex. The
Chinese in turn make a watch everybit as good as a Rolex, and just as
accurate- even looks similar, but it has a Chinese name, and costs about
$125. In no real tangible way does it differ from the Rolex, except it is
Chinese and not Swiss. Minolta sold  the Shanghai Camera Company tooling and
machinery, where they make a Seagull camera that is indistinguishable from
the Minolta camera, but sells for less because it is percieved as somewhat
'inferior'! The renowned K1000 so long a part of Pentax is still being made
there in China with very few changes- the one I once had was every bit as
sturdy and reliable as the one made in Japan, but it is percieved
differently.

Somehow we forget that the Chinese were using paper money, and had a
flourishing trade along the Pacific shores when many of my ancestors were
painting themselves blue and living in caves in Europe!

I feel that any culture is vital and valuable if it allows the people
praticing it to deal with their enviromnet- their world. Are some superior
to others? It is hard to really say, since some cultures- like the
Mousterian, existed very well for several thousand years without change.
Just because our own particular culture has made a few inroads in the last
three hundred years, doesn't mean that we are superior per se. Our so called
European culture was quite stagnant and backward by our own standards for a
couple of thousand years! Who is to say that in the future that melanesians
from Fiji might not be the people of the next Silicon Valley, or that Leicas
might be assembled in Alabama near the Mercedes-Benz plant.

It was interesting to hear that when North and South Carolina were bidding
for the Mercedes-Benz and BMW factories to locate here, that a German
industrialist was heard to say that South Carolina was "A third world
country with running water...."
Bias can cut many ways!!

Dan (Possum stew is a cultural artifact of considerable importance here!)
Post
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Emanuel Lowi" <mano@proxyma.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 6:25 PM
Subject: [Leica] country of origin


> Gentlemen, gentlemen, I have created a monster. Please forgive me.
>
> My argument DID NOT espouse a belief in inborn or genetic superiority or
anything
> else like that. My proposal was regarding culture, which is a collective
expression
> of a force which on a smaller scale goes by the name of PEER PRESSURE. All
of you who
> have had children know very well what a powerful motivating force this is,
no?
>
> So certainly a person of Portuguese descent or an Outer Slobovian or
whatever who
> lived for formative years in Germany  would work like a German if he got a
job in the
> Leica factory. I don't particularly care what beast they ride to work,
what their
> religious beliefs are or
> what their mother tongue was, GOT IT?
>
> Throw most innocent men into a prison and they'll start thinking like
criminals after
> a while. Put the same man instead into a
> monastery and he'll be a holy roller soon enough.
>
> Emanuel Lowi
> Montreal
>