For a Westerner to trash Western culture is like criticizing our nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere on the grounds that it sometimes gets windy, and besides, Jupiter's is much prettier. You may not realize its advantages until you're trying to breathe liquid methane.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Criticizing one's own culture is compared to criticizing the air you breathe just because it occasionally gets windy.
- In plain terms
- You do not realize how good your culture is until you try to live somewhere else.
- What can you take from it?
- It is hard to see the value of your own culture until you lack it.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What advantages does your culture offer?
- Is it fair to compare cultures?
Another view
Critiquing culture can still be useful for improvement.
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