It Is Time For Us All To Decide Who We Are

          In this month’s blog, I will be discussing an article called, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism. Now after completely reading this article I realized on thing. It was too long to tell me what I already knew, and that is what might be socially acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and this article. Obviously what works here may not work there. And in cultures or societies you can even look at it through households. What I can do in my house, I may not be able to do in my friend’s house. I think it’s just a matter of your own opinions and own moral standards. But I digress.

I actually wanted to expand on the topic lightly mentioned in the article, homosexuality, as it is (but doesn’t need to be) a controversial topic in our society. Many of the old folks around here believe that homosexuality is immoral and wrong, while the younger folks are totally fine with the idea and I think this fits with the lessons this Cultural Relativism theory has to teach. The author said, “The second lesson has to do with keeping an open mind.” You can also apply the “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” saying to this situation. I fully agree with the author about keeping an open mind. No matter how hard you try, you can’t convince the old folks that homosexuality is ok and they should accept it. Hell, my grandmother doesn’t even like Elton John, and I’m not going to try to convince her otherwise. At the ripe old age of 92, I would probably lose in that argument.

Oh it’s hard to generalize now a days, but I would like to think that “most people” (or in my mind, the young adults) are more open minded and accepting of others that are different rather than the older, narrow-minded folks. But upon further thinking, usually we develop our moral standards in our households and are essentially “brain-washed”, in a way, by our parents into believing what they believe. But as we grow older and interact with other intelligent, rebellious teenagers, our ways of thinking may change. As a child homosexuality wasn’t on my list of things to care about. I blame the media and politicians for bringing it about. It probably wasn’t until high school that I started forming my opinion on it. Now if I really wanted to, I could make this an impossible decision and be an impossible human being. As a registered Republican, I should be against homosexuality and as a rebellious teenager, I’m not. I have a few gay friends so why should I think of them any different than me? They dress better than me on a daily basis so why should I make fun of them? I’m just trying to be a decent human being.

Adding to the Les Miserables fandom, and satisfying my obsession, I believe this theory can be applied to the musical. There are many actions carried out by the characters that are not moral to the beliefs of other characters. 1. The loaf of bread. My friend once summed Les Miz up as “people singing about stolen bread for 3 hours.” This is pretty much accurate. We quickly find out that the convict, Jean Valjean, stole a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving child. To Valjean, he was willing to do anything for his loved ones. Unfortunately the policeman, Javert, lives by the law, or as he has said “Honest work, just reward, that’s the way to please the Lord.” So Valjean finally gets out of jail, but breaks his parole and is still on the run. For the rest of his policing career, Javert vows to find Valjean. 2. The revolution. There’s a specific moment in the movie where Marius and Enjolras are out on a street corner rallying students and Marius’ father drives by saying that he is a disgrace to their family. To the Pontmercy family, they oppose the revolutionists. But Marius completely supports it. He acts poor, takes his place and fights with the other students at the barricades. He risks his life fighting for what he believe is right. In this case, Marius is open-minded to the idea of revolution and accepts it, while his family condemns it. 3. The “Dream Cast.” For those who don’t know everything about Les Miz, the “Dream Cast” is often referred to the 10^th Anniversary Cast. Most diehard Les Miz fans absolutely love this cast and are moderately tolerant of the other casts. (If you liked the 25^th Anniversary Cast, GET OUT. Everyone knows that that was terrible.) Now while Nick Jonas works in other musicals, he doesn’t work in Les Miz. Lea Salonga is excellent as Eponine, but should never be Fantine. So what I’m trying to say here is that the cultural relativism theory can be applied in a musical aspect. In the sense that where one actor is strong, they may not be strong elsewhere. Point and case: the 10^th Anniversary vs. the 25^th Anniversary. (Watch this if you don't agree with me, hopefully it'll change your mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlOUqC1MtPM )

Honestly I could keep talking about Les Miserables forever. In conclusion, I agree with the article, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, and believe that what is socially acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another. I also believe the lesson here is to learn to be more open-minded and accepting of others. After all, will you join in our crusade?