Post by BibleRiot on Oct 9, 2007 4:49:32 GMT -5
One of the main differences between modern European life and the older social behaviour still prevalent elsewhere is the way individuals relate to society directly rather than relating to the outside world mostly as a family member.
The old pattern is still manifest in blood feuds, (interesting note posted by Bozur on changing attitudes to the blood feud code in Albania forum) but also in the practice of arranged marriages still prevalent amongst many immigrant Asian, Arab and Turkish families in Europe. Often this kind of union implied cousin marriage as well, a practice still defended by some people.
(There's an interesting article by the usually pro-Turkish and anti EU writer Christopher Caldwell on this culture clash www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/magazine/27immigrant-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=magazine , focussing on Turkish immigrants to Germany but with broader implications about what we mean by family values and what we as Europeans want as a norm.)
One of the main objectives of cousin marriage was keeping wealth within the family. This idea of family wealth remains fundamental to the way even the most modern societies conceive of the family's relationship to the world, as evinced by the widespread approval for the Bush administration's lifting of the taxes on the inheritances of the extremely rich., even amongst the poor whom the change could only affect negatively.
In Britain too, death duties, first introduced as Legacy Duty by William Pitt in 1796 to fund the war against Napoleon, are seen as an unfair tax on families and on the frugal. The Conservatives are proposing lifting the threshold for inheritance tax from £300,000 to £1 million – which leaves many lifelong Labour voters wondering if a bribe of £700,000 is enough to buy their conscience - and their vote.
So what do you think – how much cash would it take to get you to vote for a party you despise and think is harmful to your country's interests? €1000? €10,000? €100,000? €1,000,000?
And is arranged marriage actually a form of patriarchal compulsion, with the threat of exclusion from the community hanging over the heads of those who do not comply with their family's wishes? If so, what can be done about it?
The old pattern is still manifest in blood feuds, (interesting note posted by Bozur on changing attitudes to the blood feud code in Albania forum) but also in the practice of arranged marriages still prevalent amongst many immigrant Asian, Arab and Turkish families in Europe. Often this kind of union implied cousin marriage as well, a practice still defended by some people.
(There's an interesting article by the usually pro-Turkish and anti EU writer Christopher Caldwell on this culture clash www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/magazine/27immigrant-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=magazine , focussing on Turkish immigrants to Germany but with broader implications about what we mean by family values and what we as Europeans want as a norm.)
One of the main objectives of cousin marriage was keeping wealth within the family. This idea of family wealth remains fundamental to the way even the most modern societies conceive of the family's relationship to the world, as evinced by the widespread approval for the Bush administration's lifting of the taxes on the inheritances of the extremely rich., even amongst the poor whom the change could only affect negatively.
In Britain too, death duties, first introduced as Legacy Duty by William Pitt in 1796 to fund the war against Napoleon, are seen as an unfair tax on families and on the frugal. The Conservatives are proposing lifting the threshold for inheritance tax from £300,000 to £1 million – which leaves many lifelong Labour voters wondering if a bribe of £700,000 is enough to buy their conscience - and their vote.
So what do you think – how much cash would it take to get you to vote for a party you despise and think is harmful to your country's interests? €1000? €10,000? €100,000? €1,000,000?
And is arranged marriage actually a form of patriarchal compulsion, with the threat of exclusion from the community hanging over the heads of those who do not comply with their family's wishes? If so, what can be done about it?