Learning Experience 2: Civilization

Words are not my thing.  I have never been good at spelling or memorizing definitions, and having spellcheck and dictionary apps always at my fingertips has made it even worse.  As part of this, I have never spent much time considering the origins of words or the meaning behind them.  It has just never really mattered to me much.  As a result, I found the conversation we had about the word civilization to be particularly intriguing.  I had never before thought of this word as having negative connotations seeing it as simply meaning an organized group of people and had not considered any negative implications that it may have.  Our discussion about how defining someone or some group of people as civilized implies that there is someone else who is uncivilized made me think about how I use the words and who I would consider “uncivilized.”

            After thinking about it, I realized that there is not anyone or any group of people that I truly consider uncivilized when the situation and context of the group is taken into consideration.  When people refer to someone else as uncivilized, they are almost always comparing to their own culture and identity.  From this point of view, the “uncivilized” person certainly could appear to be separate or unsophisticated.  However, when compared to one’s own society and kin, the person formerly considered “uncivilized” no longer seems so.  Instead, the roles may even be reversed from that person’s perspective. 

In addition, as a westernized culture, Americans tend to equate technological advancements with moral and ethical superiority when, in fact, these advancements often push us apart and lead to poor decisions.  Rather than spending time together benefiting from one another’s company, something that we claim to value in our society, we actually break down our communities through the use of technology.  Where it used to be common to have long conversations over lunch or on the phone, people now rely on text an email to communicate and are constantly in a hurry to make it to their next commitment.  If anything, I almost believe that we are the ones who are becoming “uncivilized” as we lose our connections to each other and become more distant. 

Since this conversation, I have been more focused on the underlying meaning of words and the context in which they are used.  While I often think that our society is becoming too “politically correct,” I also recognize that many words that I have not even considered may be offensive to people as a result of their unique backgrounds and life experiences.  Words like civilization and uncivilized are used in normal conversation everyday without any consideration about who they refer to.  Most of the time, people who use the word “civilized” are not directly thinking of anyone in particular who is uncivilized, but does that make this implied comparison ok?  My hope is that when I hear others use the word civilized or other words that have westernized definitions or connotations in the future, I will be able to recognize the shortcomings of these words and learn about our own society’s shortcomings from their use.