From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   Someone once told me that the society is hated by the arrogant.   
      
   In fact different societies are hated by different people and for different   
   reasons. Sometimes the rebel is in the right, sometimes the rebel is in the   
   wrong. Same is the case for societies.   
      
   It all depends on the practices of the given society. If a society has an   
   anti-intellectual attitude, that would make enemies of the intellectual type.   
   If a society has lots of incest and domestic violence, that would make enemies   
   of the people who are    
   against incest and domestic violence. In neither case is the rebellion the   
   result of arrogance. It is the result of disagreement with wrong practices in   
   societies.   
      
   This brings me to a related issue, and that is multiculturalism. Is it viable   
   for there to be one culture or many cultures? Should we honor wrong practices   
   done in other societies, or should we try to change them?   
      
   Now I most certainly support there being many  societies to choose from.   
   Different people will have different propensities that will either flourish or   
   be  attacked depending on the society in place. It is not valid to seek a   
   monoculture that denies    
   people wisdom and knowledge of paths other than theirs. Neither however should   
   we have to accept all societies. I see no reason to accept a society that   
   thinks it right to throw sulfuric acid into the face of a little girl for   
   going to school, and I don†  
   ™t see why a  feminist would either.   
      
   With power wielded on behalf of societies, it should be questioned. The real   
   problem with power going to societies is that we have here an authority that   
   is unelected, unofficial, unbalanced and unchecked – that as such has   
   nothing to keep it from    
   becoming tyrannical and corrupt. And many societies become both.   
      
   This  can lead to a confusion: between a value and the misuses of the value.   
   Wrong things done for societies discredit society, leading many conscientious   
   people to become antisocial. I used to be one such person. I ended up   
   realizing that the error was    
   one of confusion between the value of society and abuse of the value of   
   society.  Wrong things done in the name of a value tarnishes the value. And I   
   want to see more people understand such things so that they don’t take a   
   mistaken path.   
      
   Is society hated by the arrogant? Clearly there are some situations in which   
   someone’s ego it too big to accommodate anything else on the planet; however   
   there are other situations in which the disagreement with society is of more   
   valid origin.    
   Standing up to a society that thinks it right to throw sulfuric acid into the   
   face of a child for going to school is a matter of conscientiousness and   
   courage, and I hope that more people in places such as Afghanistan take that   
   path.   
      
   What is seen as arrogance is frequently no such thing. I once heard a   
   professor say that there is good arrogance – which he defined as believing   
   one can figure things out – and bad arrogance – which he defined as   
   oppression. Maybe good arrogance    
   should be more accepted. That way efforts made in benefit of humanity will do   
   its job of actually making life better. And that is good for people whatever   
   society they inhabit and whatever culture they partake.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)