Our Social Environment

In this book, we refer to “Subtle Environments” as those environments that can be felt but can’t be touched. Earth, water, and air, are parts of our physical environment. Society, the economy, politics, technology, and education, are subtle environments we interact with, directly, and indirectly. Culture is one of these subtle environments.

Some people use their culture as an excuse to justify their actions. Meat eaters will justify their behavior by saying that the turkey they eat for Thanksgiving is part of their family tradition. Japanese people can say the same about sushi. As an Argentinean born, I could simply use my country’s culture to justify eating meat.

If we use culture to justify our actions, we would have to agree that there has never been anything wrong with any type of behavior from society. We would be forced to accept that the holocaust was part of Nazi Germany’s culture back in the 1940’s. The Inquisition would be part of the Spanish culture in the 14th century, and the Ku Klux Klan part of the American culture in 1920. We can’t let cultural excuses blur our knowing between right and wrong. Just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t mean we must do it too. Having parents raise us with their values doesn’t mean we need to keep those values for ourselves.

With the excuse of culture, we cut off our responsibility from anything perceived as immoral. At the same time we can’t deny our knowledge between right and wrong. Killing is awful, no matter who the victim is.

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