AllCulturesAreNotEqual翻译..doc

All Cultures Are Not Equal Let’s say you are an 18-year-old kid with a really big brain.You’re trying to figure out which field of study you should devote your life to ,so you can understand the forces that will be shaping history for decades to come.Go into the field certain national traits endure over centuries.why certain cultures.why certain cultures embrace technology and economic growth others resist them. This is the line of inquiry that is now impolite to pursue. The gospel of multiculturalism preaches that all groups and cultures are equally wonderful.There are a certain number of close-minded thugs,especially on university campuses,who accuse anybody who asks intelligent questions about groups and enduring traits of being racist or sexist.The economists and scientists tend to assume that material factors drive history—resources and brain chemistry—because that’s what they can measure and count. But none of this helps explain a crucial feature of our time: while global economies are converging, cultures are diverging, and the widening cultural differences are leading us into a period of conflict, inequality and segmentation. Not long ago, people said that globalization and the revolution in communications technology would bring us all together. But the opposite is true. People are taking advantage of freedom and technology to create new groups and cultural zones. Old national identities and behavior patterns are proving surprisingly durable. People are moving into self-segregating communities with people like themselves, and building invisible and sometimes visible barriers to keep strangers out. If you look just around the United States you find amazing cultural segmentation. We in America have been “globalized” (meaning economically integrated) for centuries, and yet far from converging into some homogeneous culture, we are actually diverging into lifestyle segments. The music, news, magazine and television markets have all segmented, so there are fewer