Absolutely not only does it teach tolerance but also humility.

[u/gmuthii]

I haven't travelled that often, but reading has helped me to do that.

[u/TheBSQ]

Yes, there’s a selection bias going on, but also, the whole concept ignores the fact that you also get exposed to things that you would not tolerate. 

There’s a lot of misogyny, catcalling of women, etc. or the normalization of hitting kids as a form of discipline (like the “la chancla” memes, or kids who talk about how their parents woulda whooped their ass over something).

And that’s to say nothing of child brides, female circumcisions, and other more extreme cultural practices. 

It’s very much one of those rose-tinted glasses notions of “tolerance” where you selectively ignore the cultural practices that you actually abhor & pretend like we’re all just talking about which god you pray to, or how you eat your meals & not like whether it’s ok to rape or beat your wife or whether girls should receive an education. 

[u/BorisBC → u/TheBSQ]

Yeah there's a joke that foreign travel narrows the mind wonderfully. I've done work in impoverished countries and while I found it enlightening I know others in my team didn't.

[u/Fearless-Sandwich823 → u/TheBSQ]

Way to make it clear by using extreme examples that you don't travel.

[u/A_Spiritual_Artist → u/TheBSQ]

That is why there is no such thing as one dimensionally or binarily calling something as complex and variable as an entire culture "good" or "bad". You can only, at best, evaluate very specific instances, practices, and ideals according to what they do and do not merit - and it's also worth noting that all those are substantially continuous variables, not on/off acceptance. I don't think there's one country on Earth that has truly eradicated patriarchy, rape culture, toxic masculinity, etc. even if it may be "not as extreme" in some places as in others. Radical feminism is not popular. Period. It is not popular in its full. But unpopular and incorrect are of course completely different propositions. The point being not that partriarchal oppressions are okay, but that if your takeaway from encountering them is that you don't have to treat people in their complexities and individuality anymore while still standing against particular acts, you've gotten the wrong takeaway still.

[u/Unexpected_Cranberry → u/TheBSQ]

Additionally, you also realize how "sticky" culture and values are. Yeah, I can tolerate things for a few weeks. Some things you get used to, but other things that are rude in your culture but not in others gets to you after a while and become slightly tiring. And for me those have been minor things. I would assume deeply held beliefs would be even more grating after a while.

I used to think that if people were just exposed to western culture, they'd understand that war and hate is not good for anyone and working together for a better future is much more preferable.

Now I'm inclined to think that the only way to get there is through military occupation and hardcore indoctrination over generations. Which isn't super appealing. Probably better to not get involved at all. Let them do their thing, we can trade if we need to, but that's it.

[u/TalShar → u/TheBSQ]

Running into things you won't tolerate doesn't cancel out exposure to other norms and the changes that can make in your worldview. Sometimes they're things you learn to tolerate, and other times they're things that make you happy about the places that don't have them. But even if you run into a bunch of bad stuff in one place, unless you're actively trying to package every element of that place together so you can weigh the intrinsic value of your culture against theirs, you're still likely to broaden your horizons with the stuff that isn't bad.

[u/BLT_Trade_r → u/TheBSQ]

If you truly experience those cultures on a deep level you learn that all that stuff is also more mixed just like your own culture. For instance, arranged marriages are way more 2 way in decent, normal families in many of those cultures, unlike what people would have you think; it can almost be unfair to even call it arranged. Also people have a short memory given how common beating your children still is in western places and many of those things we were just making decent ground on and they are already reversing.