Cultural sensitivity in international communication and relations

Cultural Sensitivity

Decreasing one's own ignorance can be done in several ways. One of the best is simply to start learning about and researching another culture (Barry, 2002). When a person assumes something about a particular culture or makes value judgments about that culture (whether or not those judgments are accurate for the majority of people in that culture), he or she is indicating that an entire group of people are the same and that they all do things a certain way because of the culture to which those people belong. It is better in the long run not to stereotype people that way, and to judge each person on his or her own merits. Right now, for example, there is a stigma in the United States against Muslims and/or people who come from the Middle East. Ever since September 11, 2001, that stigma has continued to grow and develop. Not everyone has a problem with people from that culture, but many Americans feel as though an entire culture cannot be trusted because of the actions of a few.

However, many Muslims are very peaceful, and the majority of the people in the Middle East are simply just trying to live their lives, just like the majority of people in any other country or region of the world. This is only one example of people being ignorant because they assume something about a culture or group of people without finding out if those assumptions are really true. There are many other cases of this, but researching the culture or group and being open minded when it comes to learning can be great ways to lower the level of ignorance. It can also be beneficial to spend some time with people of a different culture or group in order to gain a better understanding of them and all that they offer to society (Cavell, 2002). Often, there are cultural differences but there is also a great deal of common ground that a person can find with people from other cultures. Living or working among people who are "different" can be one of the biggest ways to remove the ignorance caused by stereotypes.

People do not have to wait to lower their level of ignorance. They can be proactive about the problem, because it is not necessary to wait until someone alerts them that they are being an insensitive individual. Anyone can be insensitive about things, even if that is not their intention or they really do not mean to be anything other than kind and open minded. If a person thinks that he or she is being insensitive, correcting that problem is relatively easy with some work and dedication. It is important to apologize to people to whom one may have been insensitive, but it is also important to consider the feelings of others in the group or culture so that future insensitive behavior does not occur (Cavell, 2002). Overall, being insensitive is something that comes more naturally to some people than it does to others. This may have to do with how these people were raised, but it can also be related to the environment in which they find themselves or other factors beyond their control.