“Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. There is no other way for land to survive the impact of mechanized man, nor for us to reap from it the aesthetic harvest it is capable, under science, of contributing to culture” MenWayMayUseCultureCommunityLandCapableConceptsAbuseRegardImpactBelongingAestheticCommodityConservationHarvestReapContributingLove And RespectLand Conservation Book:A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There Source: A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There
“As the dolphin becomes just another victim of humanity's utilitarian attitudes towards the earth, it seems as though the ancient friendship between our respective species is no longer entirely reciprocal. Such exploitation is nowhere more evident than in the capture and display of cetaceans for profit. Stripped of their natural identity, deprived of their own culture and environment, the dolphin and whale incarcerated within the oceanarium not only symbolizes an abuse of that ancient relationship, but above all our estrangement from nature as a whole.” WholeSeemsEarthHumanityCultureNaturalAttitudeEnvironmentIdentityAbuseVictimSpeciesAncientProfitCaptureDisplayExploitationEvidentDeprivedWhalesDolphinsReciprocalEstrangementUtilitarian Author:Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
“Every people, every society, needs a culture of resistance, a culture of being difficult and disobedient, that is the only way they will ever be able to stand up to the inevitable abuse of power by whoever runs the state apparatus, the capitalists, the communists, the socialists, the Gandhians, whoever.” PeopleWayNeedsStatesRunningAbleCultureDifficultAbuseResistanceInevitableCommunistCapitalistAbuse Of Power Author:Arundhati Roy
“In Holland I have seen well-meaning, principled people blinded by multiculturalism, overwhelmed by the imperative to be sensitive and respectful of immigrant culture, while ignoring criminal abuse of women and girls.” PeopleWellsCultureGirlAbuseCriminalsSensitiveImmigrantsOverwhelmedMulticulturalismImperativesRespectfulBlindedHollandPrincipled Author:Ayaan Hirsi Ali
“The time has also come to recognize the painful truth that traditional Judeo-Christian moral values of pain and pleasure in human relationships have contributed substantially to child abuse and to the prevalence of physical violence in Western civilization.... The religious system upon which our culture is based holds that pain, suffering and deprivation are moral and necessary to save one's soul and make one a 'good person.' The crucifixion and scourging of Christ are examples.” HumansChildrenPersonsSoulChristianPainSufferingValuesCultureChristReligiousPleasureMoralViolenceExampleCivilizationAbuseWesternPainfulScaryTraditionalChild AbuseGood PersonHuman RelationsHuman RelationshipsDeprivationWestern CivilizationCrucifixionPain And PleasureMoral ValuesPhysical ViolencePain SufferingPainful Truth Author:James W. Prescott
“Jail sentences have many functions, but one is surely to send a message about what our society abhors and what it values. This week, the equation was twofold: female infidelity twice as bad as male abuse, the life of a woman half as valuable as that of a man. The killing of the woman taken in adultery has a long history and survives today in many cultures. One of those is our own.” MenLongTodayLawValuesCultureHalfTakenWeekMessagesFemaleAbuseFunctionMalesKillingInjusticeValuableSentencesOur SocietyJailMisogynyInfidelityEquationsAdultery Author:Anna Quindlen
“Language makes culture, and we make a rotten culture when we abuse words.” CultureLanguageAbuseRotten Author:Cynthia Ozick