Culture vs. Race; why I think it’s OK to judge one and not the other

Your race- you, and everyone else, as no control over. You are a descendent of one of the races defined by characteristics from the region that people, your ancestors in particular came from.

Culture is a set of behaviors and attitudes that to a very large degree you have control over. Culture is fluid. People move in and out of cultures. There can be great diversity of thought and behaviors within an ethnic culture for example. Some cultures are based in socio-economic conditions, some are religious, and some are location or avocation based. However, as a rational adult you have the ability to adapt to a new culture of your choice (with some extreme examples). Or you can even pick and chose behaviors and attitudes from different cultures.

Because we choose which cultural attributes we exhibit I believe it is something others can judge us by. For example the Japanese culture places importance on generational support. I too value the concept of taking care of ones family and in particular ones elders. I respect that about the Japanese culture.

I believe in a puritan work ethic. You can judge me accordingly because it is something I control. There is nothing to judge when in comes to my hair, amount of melanin and other physical characteristics. It’s not so much a matter of being wrong to judge those things as it is useless or ignorant. Those differences mean nothing. Martin Luther King, Jr. had it right when he said he dreamt of the day where his children “…will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”