Modern Society without Cultural Universals
- Thread starter Beatriz
- Start date
The thing is that such things are so basic and can be done by just about anyone that it becomes impossible to actually police or not have such behaviors across everyone. At this point one would have to change someone to not be human to potentially not have these, and even then multiple animals have shown their own form of said behaviors so I would say they are impossible to not have.
Some of them like dancing, maybe, since some ideologies and religions do call for a blanket ban. Possibly music too, but there never was an ideology which condemned music entirely. Salafist Islam permits vocal music praising Allah, and the Mohist condemnation of music mostly referred to the lavish funds and ritual the Zhou Dynasty gave those who performed sacred musical rites. You can drive music and dancing from the public, but you can't drive it from the private square because a basic sense of rhythm is hardwired in humanity.
But everything else, no. It's impossible to eradicate human names, for instance, because that's just convenience. People will still call you something, and the government would want a number to track you. Games? Yes, people play games, just like animals play games. Food taboos? No, you'll just get new taboos and things people think are disgusting.
But everything else, no. It's impossible to eradicate human names, for instance, because that's just convenience. People will still call you something, and the government would want a number to track you. Games? Yes, people play games, just like animals play games. Food taboos? No, you'll just get new taboos and things people think are disgusting.
Neither the Kims nor Pol Pot eliminated any cultural universals, nor did they set out to do so.