I'm Normal, You're Weird-Ethnocentrism

This past summer I went vacationing around the world. Let me tell you, a lot of things are so messed up! People are really weird in Jerusalem and Iraq and the other places where they use Hebrew you know? They can‘t even write in the right direction! No one in their right mind would write from right to left(Culbertson). And don’t even get me started about the plumbers in Australia. They’re so stupid, they can’t even get the toilets to flush the right way. And another thing! What are Europeans thinking? They all drive on the wrong side of the road(Culbertson)! They almost made me crash as soon as I pulled out of the parking lot. Canada was the worst though. Those people can’t even spell! Every single n-e-i-g-h-b-o-U-r hood I went to in that country had people that spelled words wrong.  I don’t understand why they can’t just be more “right” like us.
         A little extreme? Unfortunately, that’s the way that many Americans think. Those thoughts are all examples of ethnocentrism. The usual definition of the term is "thinking one's own group's ways are superior to others" or "judging other groups as inferior to one's own"(Ethnocentrism). "Ethnic" refers to cultural heritage, and "centrism" refers to the central starting point, so "ethnocentrism" basically refers to judging other groups from our own cultural point of view. But even this does not address the underlying issue of why people do this. Most people, thinking of the dictionary’s definition, believe that they are not ethnocentric, but are rather "open minded" and "tolerant." However, as I will explain, everyone is ethnocentric, and there is no way not to be ethnocentric. It cannot be avoided, nor can it be willed away by a positive or well-meaning attitude.
         To address the deeper issues involved in ethnocentrism, we need a more specific definition. In this sense, ethnocentrism can be defined as making false assumptions about others' ways based on our own limited experience (Ricker 7). The key word is assumptions, because we are not even aware that we are being ethnocentric. We don't understand that we don't understand. Let me give you an example of this. Say that you have participated in an Inuit snow-shoe race for the first time. Being inexperienced, you came in way behind the others, so you crossed the finish line completely embarrassed, but instead of being laughed at by the Inuit people, they congratulated you, saying, “Wow, you really did try.” You assumed that you had "lost" the race, but it turns out the Inuit saw the same situation very differently than you did. Many westerners have a “binary conflict” view of life, like right or wrong, liberal versus conservative, and so on and so forth, and you had used your "win or lose" perspective of life on the situation. As a result, you did not understand how they experience life: that they believe trying is a basic element of life (Tagak). This did not necessarily involve thinking that your ways were superior, but rather that you assumed your experience fit in another group's circumstances.
         Many assumptions we have about other cultures are negative ones. For example, we may observe Native Americans sitting around a camp not doing obvious work that is needed and see them as "lazy". Westerners generally value being busy as being productive and so may not appreciate their ability to relax and not be compelled to do something, or realize how much effort is put into other activities like hunting. Assumptions can also reflect “positive” assumptions about others' ways. For example, we in an urban industrial society frequently think of Native Americans as being free of the stresses of modern society, but this view fails to recognize that there are many stresses in their way of life, including the threat of starvation if injured while checking a trap line a hundred miles from base camp, or when game is scarce. False positive assumptions are just as misleading as false negative assumptions.
         The definition we’re using for this circumstance says that we make false assumptions based on our own limited experience. This is all we know. What we have already experienced is our reality, and what we expect. It is normal to assume it is the natural basis of reality because our own ways work for us. Our values on productiveness, our social roles, our beliefs about life and the universe, and all our other ways help us organize life experience and provide important meanings and functions as we move through daily activities. Therefore, our limited experiences we have already had are the basis for interpreting new experiences, in this case, others’ behavior. Since we have not experienced everything they have experienced, how can we not be ethnocentric?
         So what is the problem with ethnocentrism? Ethnocentrism leads to misunderstanding others. We falsely distort what is meaningful and functional to other peoples through our own tinted glasses. We see their ways in terms of our life experience, not their context. We do not understand that their ways have their own meanings and functions in life, just as our ways have for us.  At the heart of this is that we do not understand that we do not understand so we aren't aware that we can develop more valid understandings about how they experience life. A lack of understanding can make things a lot harder when we face conflicts between social groups. It is easy to assume that others should have certain perspectives or values. How often are we prone to strike up conflicts when others tell us how we should think and feel?
         Ethnocentrism is also evident in international affairs, creating conflicts and stalling the resolution of conflicts. For example, how might our Western binary conflict view of life influence our interpretation of another group's intents when they express a different position on an issue? Is it just another viewpoint, or is it against our viewpoint? If we don't win the conflict, will we lose? We may have positive intentions in helping other groups deal with certain problems, but how do they see the problem and what kind of solution do they want? We falsely assume because we are not even aware we are assuming, and, furthermore, it’s the normal thing to do. We can’t not be ethnocentric, and we can’t wish it away or make ourselves have a completely open attitude.
         So what can we do about ethnocentrism? Addressing ethnocentrism is not a matter of trying not to be ethnocentric. This is an impossible thing, since we will never experience every life situation of everyone around the world. We will always have our assumptions about life based on our existing limited experience. So a much more productive approach is to catch ourselves when we are being ethnocentric and to control this bias as we seek to develop better understandings.
         The first step in developing more balanced understandings is to recognize that we don’t understand and that we are falsely assuming something that is not the case. How can we consciously become aware of something that is happening subconsciously? In this case, how can we know when we are being biased? One of the most effective means for recognizing that ethnocentrism is messing up our understandings is to watch for reactions of ourselves and of the people that we are being biased against. Reactions tell us that we are assuming something and that our assumptions aren’t working. We can always observe our own reactions. When we have negative reactions towards others, such as thinking "that doesn't make sense" or "that's wrong,” we are getting clues that our assumptions are not working in the situation. We also must observe their reactions. If we blissfully go on in our misconceptions but they don't respond the way we would, this is also an important clue that our assumptions are not working in the situation.
         Once we realize that we do not understand, we are in a better position to try and understand better. In this process, it is important to remember that we are the learners. We don’t know, and that is why we are trying to develop better understandings. They are the ones who know what their life experience is like. We are asking them to help us understand better. The best method is to ask for their explanations about what they do or say. Avoid posing questions that impose our own realities and bound their realities. Also, we should respect their right to not share with us, just as we may not want to share things that are private. If we appreciate that their life experience can be as valid for them as ours is for us, acknowledge that we may be misunderstanding, and ask them to help us understand, most people are more than willing to help us understand better.
         This past summer I went vacationing around the world. Let me tell you, a lot of people are different. The people of Jerusalem and Iraq write in Hebrew from the right to the left. I talked to a local man who told me that this originated 4,000 years ago, when it was easier to go from the right to the left when carving into a stone tablet while holding a wedge in your left hand and pounding on it with a hammer in your right(Google Answers). In Australia, the toilets flush in the opposite direction from toilets in America, but they still get the job done. Another thing; Europeans drive on the left side of the road This is how most people started driving, and it originates from knights who were predominantly right-handed. Being on the left side gave them a better advantage during fights with the enemy(McGregor). Canadians spells words like color and favorite with a “u” included. While in Canada, I found out that those words started out being spelled with a “u,” but in the American’s effort to break free of British rule, we took out the extra letter.