1. Kill enemies from other tribes.
2. Honor treachery.
3. Fattening with friendship for the slaughter is encouraged.
4. Eating human flesh opens your eyes of knowing good and evil.
5. “Peace Child” is a promise of peace.
6. Worship river spirits.
7. Number of wives you have represents your power and strength.
Modern culture is based on the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments includes:
1. You shall have no other gods before God.
2. Honor your father and your mother.
3. You shall not murder.
4. You shall not commit adultery.
5. You shall not steal.
6. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
7. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house and anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Yes, there are some similar provisions. For example, both cultures generally respect the elderly. Also, they believe in a supernatural being. The Sawi worships river spirits and people in modern society worship God (or other gods). However, from the two lists above, it is clearly shown that Sawi tenets are far different from the modern culture. The biggest different between the two cultures is how each respects human beings. Modern culture respects every person. Even though discrimination against minority is still present in some parts of the world, the global trend is that we should respect every human being. Majority of people in modern culture believe that we should protect all human rights. Nowadays, men and women are equally treated (although this is not always true…). Men cannot have more than one wife; polygamy is not accepted. But in the Sawi culture, men are considered to be superior to women.
We, people who are living modern society, should not kill anyone. Unlike, the Sawi’s culture, killing personal enemies cannot be accepted in the modern culture. Also, we value friendship and virtue very importantly. On the contrary, the Sawi people tend to honor treachery and betrayal of friends. Overall, modern culture respects human beings while the Sawi tenets infringe some of important human rights.
As a person who is living in modern society, I cannot accept some of the Sawi’s tenets. How could killing people from another village and eating the flesh be praised? I understand the Sawi’s beliefs, but cannot agree with it. I personally think that we all MUST protect human rights ALL THE TIME. We always live among other people and interact with them, so we should respect others as we want them to respect us.
3 comments:
Hi Jiwon, I think you are such a profound thinker. When I thought about the question "How different is your modern culture form the Sawi tenets" I only thought about the superficial things, such as education and life style. However, you compared deeper than that. You talked that how our culture respects and treats equally to people, while the Sawi tribes don't. I was truly impressed by your post.
Hey Jiwon:)
I agree with you that the Sawis have different rules than us. You mentioned something about equal treatment in our culture, but not in the Sawis. If I honestly think about it, don't we discriminate against people? Can we really say that in our culture, everyone is treated equally? What happens if we don't? Does that make our culture the same as the Sawi's??
Just some ideas ^^;; Have a good weekend :D
You have identified the foundational similarities and differences which essentially answers the question! Well done. Mrs.Mc.
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