Blog: Playing the Devil's Advocate
Topic: My Views on “Wannabe Whites”
Date: March 25, 2012

My understanding is that Razib Khan spent his formative years in the US so I would not be surprised at all if he has been westernized. I am not Indian myself but I have had enough exposure to various aspects of Indian culture to be unsurprised.

I would like to point out though, that in my experience, in general any culture comprises both homogenous and heterogeneous components and that any one of which has aspects that are both sticky and plastic or fluid.

The transmission of values and the associated rituals, and forms, and the degree to which they will taken up and adopted by one culture from another depends on a wide variety of factors but quite commonly the axis is where the values intersect. In addition certain aspects may be disproportionately amplified, distorted and or suppressed depending on how they resonate with already established cultural mores.

Some examples, contrast the British tea drinking ritual, and the consumption of curry in that most traditional of British institutions, the English pub.

Consider the wholesale importation and incorporation into the English language of words of Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and Tamil origin. I would be willing to wager a large sum that the majority of native English speakers are completely unaware of the origins of words such as bungalow, khaki, bandanna, chicanery, dinghy, jodhpurs juggernaut, aryan, atoll, cowrie, crimson, pariah, catamaran, and candy. These words are only a sample and no where near a complete list.

Examples of more complex cultural transmission is that of the game of cricket and the hunting at hounds. The incorporation of jodhpurs into the English form of this ritual is I dare say unnoticed by it's practitioners, whether in Canada or "Snooty Ooty" (Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India). The axis for the above two samples are universal across all cultures, games and hunting. In the case of the latter it is also a means of demonstrating and reinforcing higher sociocultural "value" and elevated status.

Lastly, I leave you to contemplate the military square as currently practised in China. This form of ritual has been around since antiquity and is no stranger to any country, except many of the current specifics were refined by the Prussians. Note also the strinking similarity to jodhpurs worn by the men at the begining of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A9e1hlv1ro