My mammal friend, Father Orthohippo is beginning a series on cultural blinders that looks most promising. It starts to put a human face on this whole issue of culture and how we interpret the things we see, the things we experience. I would recommend you go over to his site and read it. Below is a teaser quote from his first installment:
My public school system had its own indoor swimming pool, built in the 1920s. Each year we won at least one state championship in some sport. When I last checked 30 years ago, my high school had won more state titles than any other school in the USA which competed in at least 5 sports. It was a jock school, and I was one, even though I also was in a very small and quite untalented band and a typical high school choir. . . .
Uncle Sam wants you! Join the army! Why not? No war was on. Only the USSR and red China threatened. Assurance of mutual destruction was the military defense posture of the day. The Korean stalemate was 4 years old. Join, flee, run away. I thought it might even be fun.
Cultural blinders began to immediately get chipped at the reception center at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. This was sure not like home. Really bad mess hall, and people not like me everywhere, often yelling at me. Many were not very friendly or polite, either. After testing they invited me to go to officer candidate school. which also meant signing up for 4 more years with no guarantees if I washed out. Nope. Just survive and make it into basic training. . . .
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