May 31, 2010

Tolerence - the measurement of physical and mental health

Kwakwaka'wakw people in a wedding ceremony, br...Image via Wikipedia

If we take the tolerance on different types of foods as ONE OF measurements of our physical health, the tolerance on different cultures and ideas could also be one of measurements of mental health.

By my own observation, most Chinese people oversea who accept western foods are those with great physical health. On the contrary, those who do not or cannot accept western foods are either physically unhealthy or, at older age (not those Chinese Americans who grew up here, but those who immigrated here at relatively older age). So if my observation is valid, the same rule can be applied to our mentality: the healthy minds are always open to different ideas or cultures with objective understanding, not rejection.
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4 comments:

  1. I agree with this to a certain extent.

    Hypothetically, if we say that we won't accept a food because it is from some culture, that says nothing of whether the food is good or bad - its just stereotype based on a false induction. In that sense it may be considered as rejection based upon an unfounded supposition.

    I don't know that I'd use the word objective though - but that might depend on how we define the term.

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  2. I think it's a nice analogy. I've said this before: "Tolerance is the real intelligence test." Being open to other ways of thinking and living is a sign one is free of cultural bias and conditioning.

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  3. thanks for C.Bosco & NP.
    I think "tolerance" doesn't necessarily mean "acceptance", or "like".

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  4. Maybe; again though, I think it depends on how you define the terms. Depending on that, I don't have a problem with using the term tolerance instead.

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