How does culture affect the way you treat others?

Answer 1

I think that the way culture affects how we treat others is in various ways. One is that it is how we determine whether other people are worth our attention and time. We are excited to meet a celebrity, help a rich or beautiful person, spend time with a humorous person. It is another thing to spend time with a dying person, a poor or homeless person, a disabled (mental or physical) or anyone else who is different in some way. Our biological selves are sorting safe and dangerous concepts, and it is culture, I think, that teaches us how to treat others, both those who are easy to be with and those who one needs to take a second look at. Culture provides manners that help one treat others with the golden rule, so that you don't offend or hurt them. An example would be styles of eating. Different cultures (ie European and American) handle forks and knives differently. Others use chopsticks. Some people marry in white; others marry in red. Some have the wedding party with everyone, others have a women's and also a men's party. There are people who are educated in Protocol, which is more or less a science of knowing what is important to people of different cultures and helping others understand what matters in terms of manners. However, for all of us, humor, compassion, love, storytelling, and integrity (among others) are a uniting feature of being human.