Deculturate: (v) to cause the loss of the cultural characteristics of a people, society, etc.

Bad ideas don’t go away.

they just stumble off in the distance and shortly thereafter return, with a new cheesy slogan.

All the years I was growing up, the people around me tried to maintain their bigotry by saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

I was supposed to understand from this pronouncement that human beings of a certain color or culture would just naturally want to be with those who were like them.

First of all, I was never able to confirm that birds feel that way.

Matter of fact, I’ve seen them lined up on a wire above my head in all sorts of varieties. But I’ve always wondered, if the statement were true, why we wanted to be a bunch of birdbrains?

It is rare to hear that statement anymore—just as it’s unusual to go into a convenience store and see a sign reading, “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”

But this doesn’t mean the sentiment—the bigotry—has disappeared. Not at all.

It has all resurfaced under the glowing banner of “culture.”

And you can even feel sophisticated and intellectual while doing it.

But I will tell you—insisting that Native Americans “cook their bread just a little differently than we do” will give any prejudiced person a hard-on.

So it seems that we need to deculturate the Earth for a season, so we can value each other as brothers and sisters of one race, and then express preferences on pizza toppings and Christmas carols.

Otherwise, we will begin to believe that the small differences that may exist among us are license to declare that we are a planet which is multi-racial, clumping into our preferences and preferring to remain that way.

You may enjoy your culture.

But you do not have permission to use it as a way of alienating yourself from the rest of Earth’s human habitation.

Just as all baptism basically boils down to water, all human life revolves around our heart, soul, mind and strength.