Forgotten Fruit

By Teresa Hakaraia

Culture? How much longer will it last?

``Personally, I believe that if there was no prejudice in the world, then we would all have P.O. Boxes in the Garden of Eden,'' wrote Gobineau, a French philosopher in the 19th Century who classified the races.

Below is a table that sums up some of Gobineau's theories.

As you can see, the Aryan race sits like the father at the head of the table. There he sits watching over the dinner's proceedings with a refined yet masculine presence. Gobineau also stated that the white race was a direct descendant of the Aryan race and therefore it is seated in the mother's chair at the other end of the dinner table. She gives thanks to the Lord for blessing her with this bounty. And like children, those classified by Gobineau as being yellow or black sit along the sides of the table waiting patiently for their turn to speak.

And as you may be able to guess, Gobineau's theories greatly influenced Adolf Hitler.

But look more closely at the table and ask yourself: how greatly have these kind of ideas influenced us all? Not only has it influenced our beliefs about other cultures, but it influences our beliefs about ourselves.

We are born into these prejudices and we drag them around with us like balls and chains attached to prisoners' feet.

In Korea, some people elect for plastic surgery because they want the Western nose or the double eyelid. They think that this is more attractive than their Korean features.

One of my students, who I believe is very pretty, told me that as soon as she is 18, her mother is going to pay for her to get a ``nose job" so that it is narrower. Suffice to say, I couldn't believe what I was hearing because I think that Korean women are some of the most beautiful on Earth.

But why does she want to lose her Korean-ness?

I think she wants to lose it because of globalization. Everyday, she sees images in the media where people's jaws drop in wild fascination at women with blonde hair, blue eyes and large busts ― typically Aryan looking ones.

Globalization has taught people the world over, that if you're born white, you will have it better.

Ask anyone from a ``colored" culture whether they are proud to be from that culture, and I'm almost certain that the vast majority will tell you that they are very proud. Often, you hear people saying, ``I am proud to be Korean," ``I am proud to be Hispanic," or ``I am Black and proud." But we don't seem to ask white people if they are proud to be white, because if they said they were, they would be deemed a ``white supremist."

White people are not proud to be white. They are just thankful.

Why are minorities proud of their cultural backgrounds? I believe they are proud because if they were not, then they would be carrying around all the prejudices the world has created about them through quicksand. They would sink and they would not be able to swim because you can't exist in this world without being proud of who you are.

So what's happening to us? Where are we heading? People are moving. Cultures are mixing. People are marrying outside of their culture and they are having children.

When we look in the mirror, we see how we are different and we want to be the same. We don't want to carry around these prejudices. They are too heavy. We want to be paroled and set free.

But the price we will pay as a species is that we will lose culture.

Culture is like the lions and tigers. Once upon a time, these proud animals were the fierce rulers of their domain, but now their habitats have been taken over by the more dominant species ― the humans. Soon culture will live in the same places lions and tigers now dwell. Now they live in caged areas at the zoo. And soon culture will live behind glass walls at the museum.

It might not happen overnight, but it will happen.

And is this what we really want? It is not what I want. But how can there be any other way?

Progress? What is it? Progress means to move forward. But we are not moving forward. Rather, we are sidestepping. And the things we sidestep, we ignore. All in the name of progress. All in the name of capitalism. All in the name of globalization.

Personally, I believe that in the future we will have bred all the differences out of us. In the future we will be gray in color, have no hair, have egg-shaped heads, and big dark oval eyes. In the future we will be aliens on our own planet because we will have forgotten who we really are.

We will have lost all pride in what makes us different.

The writer is an English teacher and writer. She can be reached at hk@cashmere.school.nz.