Sixth Entry: How different is your modern culture from the Sawi culture?

Obviously, "primitive" culture and "civilized" culture must have huge discrepancies, if the definition of "civilization" means to be scientifically and technologically advanced. In spite of the differences, nearly every culture seems to share one similarity - religion.

And yet, despite the fact that both types of cultures have a certain set of beliefs that on which they base their actions, those beliefs seem to be radically different, because the Sawi believe in cannibalism and treachery, whereas we don't. In fact, Killing and lying are diametrically opposed to the "civilized" moral standards. However, I don't believe that this necessarily indicates that the Sawi culture doesn't have any moral standards. It'd be rather safe to say that their moral standards are significantly different from ours. As I have encountered with rather shocking cultures, I have eventually come to a point where I try to understand and respect every culture, instead of demeaning all the other cultures in an openly condescending way; this is why I specifically define what "civilized" means because the word itself can already cause some prejudice.

Another discrepency between our modern culture and the Sawi culture is the degree to which technology, science, and most importatnly, interaction have impacted the society. The Sawi, on the other hand, doesn't. We can't talk about the development of modern society without mentioning technological development and its impact on our daily lives. Right after we get up, we put on glasses, look at the clock, take a shower, go to work, look at the blue screen for hours, talk on the cell phone while moving to a different work place in a car, and so forth. No one can can imagine how chaotic the world is going to be without technology. However, the Sawi has no cell phone, no computer, nearly no medical treatment, or any technologically developed tool that helps make the life convinient- they are primitive. Our modern culture takes advantage of interation in order to mutually benefit each other most of the times, yet the Sawi culture values self-sufficiency. No one from the Sawi culture bothers to know what's going on beyond the region they live. The only interaction that would ever happen is a war. The Sawi uses interaction and communication as an oppotunity for deception or the expansion of their territory. Thus, the purpose of interation is radically different, probably because we and the Sawi people have almost opposite moral standards.

Inherently, our modern culture and the Sawi culture are very differnt. It is almost the opposite in nearly every aspect of culture. Yet no one is to say which one is better, because "difference" is different from better and worse... I guess one should try to involve onself with one he or she most agrees with? (I'm afraid to involve myself with cannibalism, for sure.)