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How Did Ruth Benedict Judge The Culture In The Pueblos Of New Mexico

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Every culture has their own practices that are seemingly foreign to other cultures that come after them. For example, we cannot judge the culture of Chinese people today in present day China as we judged the culture of the people who used to settle in the same country. The only thing that they share is location because history, technology, and religion have influenced modern cultures in ways that would have been completely foreign to ancestors of the same place. An example of this comes from Ruth Benedict in her essay The Pueblos of New Mexico. In this essay she describes that Indians who used to live in New Mexico. They were very different from the people that live there today. They were very relaxed in many ways of their culture expect religion. …show more content…

In The Pueblos of New Mexico Ruth Benedict does a great job of depicting a culture and showing the different aspects of it. There are, of course, some things that seem to be great ideas that could potentially improve the culture today. There are also things that seem good on the outside, but would be destructive to a culture that does not need any more destructions. “Some experiences had power and some had not, and they distinguished by the flash of significance that signaled out those that were valuable” (Para 21). If everyone went around giving power to their dreams as well as visions, life would be chaotic. It would cause people to blame the bad things they do on the power of their dreams. If vision quest was adapted into our culture it would just be another way for people to get out of the bad things they have done. Instead of an insanity plea, they would begin to use vision quest to get away with breaking the law. Vision quest had a time and place, and that is certainly not in today’s culture. “The destructive and pervasive effect of illegal drug use in our society is appalling. Over 32 million Americans used illegal drugs last year” (Bush). We do not need to give people another reason to use drugs. This is why vision quest would be and should be rejects if it is every introduced to our culture today. It would be a lot …show more content…

In her essay, Ruth Benedict describes vision quest as visions people have that are transforming and religious, and this is something I have never experienced. Becoming intoxicated to have some higher experience is what most religions would look down on today because being drunk is not viewed as a good thing. Because it has nothing to do with my religion I have never experienced a vision quest. If a group of people tried to bring back the vision quest Benedict illustrates, I think that most of society would have a negative attitude towards them. It would make people who are taking part in these activities feel justified, and eventually it would lead to a lot more destruction, which is not something America needs more of. Ruth Benedict shows vision quest as a positive thing, but with all of the problems it could potentially cause vision quest would ultimately be rejected. Instead of an insanity plea, they would begin to use vision quest to get away with breaking the law. Vision quest had a time and place, and that is certainly not in today’s

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