How do we protect our culture?

In our time, everything has become mixed, we hardly distinguish what remains for us from what we imported, so how can we protect our culture and our cultural identity

art, cinema and theater, or are it the customs, heritage and myths of peoples, what is that culture worth protecting and defending, the word culture in the dictionary of meanings means several meanings Including: the sciences, knowledge and arts in which cleverness is sought, as well as general culture: the entirety of sciences, arts, and literature within its general framework, and there is national culture, which distinguishes it from others, and popular culture and another, which distinguishes it from others, and popular culture and another, which distinguishes it from others, and popular culture and another, which distinguishes it from others. Which expresses a cultural trend trying to replace traditional culture.

So from the foregoing, we can define our culture as: our manners, our sciences, our knowledge, our customs and traditions, and the prevailing custom in our country. Our food is a culture, our clothes are a culture, and everything around us in society is a culture of our own, and most importantly, our language is a big part of the culture, or it is our identity, that we meet. Under its umbrella, which we must preserve and work to raise, because if we lose it we lose our identity permanently.

What are the components of culture?

When I was studying the relationship of societal culture to education, I got to know the components of culture, namely:

Generalities of culture

They are those elements that are shared by the vast majority, sometimes even the whole of society, and they are those things such as language and religion, ideas and beliefs, customs, traditions and the prevailing custom.

These generalities are the basis on which the culture of that geographical spot is built, which distinguishes it from other cultures, among the generalities also the way food and the way of dressing, sometimes you find for those countries a uniform, such as the Moroccan caftan or the Gulf shemagh, and these generalities also It is one of the biggest influences on individuals, so you dye them a certain color, which makes you distinguish that individual from others and know his group before he tells you.

Among the generalities is the dialect, and that dialect is what distinguishes the Egyptian from the Syrian from the Saudi, because each of them utters in a different way from the other, but does this mean that generalities are always correct and not permissible to touch them? Of course not, because that is the job of reformers in society and whose hands extend to it in reform and development, just as Qasim Amin did when he fought for the education of Egyptian women, because the prevailing custom at the time was not to learn, which is a false custom, so generalities, although they are a basic rule, are not sacred But the hand extends to it with criticism and change.

Peculiarities of culture

Peculiarities are the cultural elements that are shared by a certain class of community members, so that privacy becomes a culture branching off the generalities, it is like a tree and its branches, so the branches are those peculiarities, for example the aristocratic class has its own customs and behaviors that distinguish it from the middle class, as well as the category of artists and workers In cinema, it differs from the class of teachers, in the conscience there is an implicit agreement that that category has special behaviors, it is an invisible or noticeable law, even if it is wrong.

 Cultural variables

These are behaviors or responses that have not yet reached maturity. These behavioral patterns have not reached the point of stability. They are still in the process of experimentation. Either everyone accepts them and joins the generalities, or they become restricted to a special group and join the specifics, or they are rejected and they disappear and disappear, such as Many of the fashions that appeared in our societies, occupied them for a period, and after that they were eliminated, and the changes are constantly occurring, do not stop, they are an important element that contributes to the maturity and development of culture.

Is societal culture inconsistent with freedom?

In our new world, where all of us are calling for freedom, we may see that adhering to certain customs is incompatible with the demand for freedom, and therefore we may stand in the area between the two, because we are trying to protect the culture from decline or change, and we also want freedom, we want it with all our strength and determination, But in fact, I see that societal culture does not conflict with freedom, as long as that freedom stands at the limits of others, does not enter their space and demands change and change.

Here, exactly, the role of reformers and correctors emerges, just as Qassem Amin, Safia Zaghloul, and the Feminist Group came out in order for women to go out to education, work, and the right to vote, so the role of these people is now emerging in order to correct the paths of societal culture and protect it from falling into the chasm of intolerance and stagnation. The correct and correct one, not that which oppresses one individual for the sake of another, or conquers one group over another.

What is the need to protect our culture?

So that we do not become a monster, we do not know on what basis we are based on the appearance of us, which is what is currently happening in some Arab societies. Neither it remained the same nor did it evolve, it is a stage between the two, did not reach full development, and did not change in proportion to The demands of the new world are reeling between fanaticism and the dissolution between freedom and restrictions, so we must protect the culture and not import new models that we apply to us. Rather, change and development take place in line with the vocabulary of our current life, with the generalities of our culture, so ready-made models are not useful. On the contrary, it will cause us to be paralyzed and mad, and we will become no longer connecting the East and the West, a life without taste and meaning.

In the past, no reformer came out to say I want the Egyptian woman to become a new European model, but rather we want to give her her rights in proportion to the society, so the woman became educated, then she went further and became a teacher, then a doctor, then demanded to vote in the elections, then Women have become a parliamentarian, minister, and director, and this model applies to everything in life, and every cultural aspect that we want to change or develop.

How do we protect our culture?

The easiest way for us to preserve our culture is to adhere to it. First, we stick to our language and stop using many foreign words in order to prove that we are the best. In other cultures no one uses a language other than his mother tongue to deal with others, as well as to accept our culture, and to love it. We do not disavow it, then we deal with it with anatomy, so we see what is useful to us and what helps us to develop and keep it. As for what stands as an obstacle because it is a wrong legacy, we must get rid of it, because it is a burden on us and a burden on the culture itself, which makes it unfit for life, nor for the new development around us.