Getting pushed into the pool

Week One: Why do we study this thing?

Starting Cross Cultural is like getting into a pool. It looks kind big, wet and cold and you just kind of want to step in in the shallow end and slowly acclimate yourself. Well, that's what your natural instincts are at least. Your natural instincts are wrong and here's why: Cross cultural is not something you can just slowly learn, it's far easier(and most likely better) to throw your predispositions aside and show everyone your best cannonball. For those who won't agree with everything we're learning, it will at least make things a bit easier.

Let me explain: Cross Cultural, from what we've learned so far, is anti-universalist. It comforts people to think that there are universal truths and universal values shared through all people. When something comes along to challenge that, no matter how clearly factual the information, we will resist. It takes more effort to learn this "bad" than to ignore the new information and continue in our ignorance. This is the idea, in economics jargon, of rational ignorance.

So why is this a problem? Being rationally ignorant makes you feel good, isn't that a good thing? No. Rational ignorance has a broad range of implications. The fact of rational ignorance is that you're ignoring facts to help feelings. Writ large, this can hurt everyone. Things like protective tariffs, aid to Africa, and the minimum wage exist in part because of this idea. All three make us feel good, while there are solid facts that prove none are beneficial. I'm going to plug Brian Caplan's book The Myth of the Rational Voter here, which explains the broad implications I'm talking about.

The other problem with Universalist ideology is the fact that it brings a person ever closer to a universal theory of value. When you think that there are absolute universal personal values, you're more likely to accept that objects also have a universal value. If that happens, you're spitting in the face of anyone who doesn't share how much you value things from a loaf of bread to a Walter Payton rookie card. Simply, if you can't accept that people value things differently, then the cause is lost and you shouldn't be in the class in the first place.

Nick