Truth and perspective: examining eastern culture

By Adeline Beason

In the United States, we tout a uniquely individualistic mindset: schoolchildren are encouraged to think creatively and compete to stand out against their peers, companies offer exclusive bonuses to employees for outstanding performance, civil activists are praised for “breaking the social norm,” and so on. Because of these principles, this mindset strongly contradicts its neighbors to the east. 

At its most extreme, the eastern ideal is communism, or society governed by the masses. However, communism represents only the end of a broad spectrum of collectivism. Just as Asia is the largest and most diverse continent, collectivism is widely practiced and varies from culture to culture. Japan, for example, teaches the phrase “the nail that sticks out is always hammered down” to its children to prevent misbehavior. It is not a reprimand, rather a warning not to stray from safety. As an individual, the risk of failure is high; as a member of the mass, the only failure is going against the grain 

From this viewpoint, it is easy to criticize the east as a dysfunctional, unproductive herd. Yet, it is important to realize that we westerners are not exempt from collectivism. There are countless ideas and standards we uphold simply because we have learned them. Political factions, class systems, and distrust of collectivism itself are all agreed upon and enforced because we universally believe they are correct. In this way, it becomes apparent that there is no “right” or “wrong” way to think, there is only perspective. Likewise, easterners also practice individualism. Those who are confident enough to assert their ideas and escape the nail hammer sometimes become the leaders of society. In this way, the east is more prone to authoritarian regimes such as communism. As a collectivist leader, it is easy to use the values of the people against them to ensure personal gain, thus causing the problems we see in modern eastern government. 

That is not to say the west is exempt from bad practice. It is no secret that the United States is becoming overwhelmingly corrupt by billionaires exploiting the workforce and monopolizing the economy. Because we so praise competitive business, we have given our CEO’s nearly as much power as the government itself. 

The east and west represent societies with drastically different truths. Both sides are harshly critical of each other, but they are both productive in their own right. Furthermore, they are only functional because they incorporate their opponent’s ideals, even without realizing it. Given the evidence, it is increasingly apparent that there is no such thing as truth, only perspective.