Author Faults Cultural Blindness for Problems Besetting Americans

June 28, 2010 - PRLog -- Cultural Blindness Major Fault
of Mainstream Americans

Mainstream Americans are proud of their sense of fairness, justice, compassion and generosity, and rightly so, but the vast majority of them suffer from cultural blindness, says author Boyé Lafayette De Mente.

Known for his books on the business practices, cultures, languages and foibles of the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Mexicans and Americans, De Mente says the cultural awareness of Americans in leadership positions has improved dramatically in the past decade but remains an insidious weakness that is primarily responsible for the diplomatic, economic and political morass now besieging the United States.

“Cultural blindness has, in fact, been built into the psyche of mainstream Americans because the vast size of the country and its political system fostered a powerful sense of self and personal independence as well as a superiority complex,” he says.

De Mente adds that this superiority complex has resulted in most mainstream Americans in all fields—including business, education and politics—remaining ignorant of and critical of other cultures, often including our closest cultural relatives.

In his latest book, The Origins of Human Violence! - Male Dominance, Ignorance, Religions and Willful Stupidity!, De Mente says that ignorance and willful stupidity on the part of religious leaders and educators have been responsible for the failure of religion-based moralities and the rise of profit-making as the new morality.

“What makes this especially alarming and harmful is that there are no enforceable moral or legal boundaries or limits on profit-making, and this has resulted in a drive to make profits that has created an excess-consumption syndrome that is contagious and destructive not only to rational human values but to the planet as well, he says.

De Mente makes a number of suggestions in the book that are aimed at reducing or eliminating altogether the most insidious faults of human cultures, from sexual behavior and god-based religions to the present unsustainable economic system.
 
All of De Mente’s 70-plus books are available from Amazon.com.  

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I am the author of 70-plus books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea, Mexico and the U.S.