"Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours"
- Benjamin Franklin
About this Quote
This quote is from Benjamin Franklin's essay "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America," which was released in 1784. In this essay, Franklin reviews the European colonizers' assumption of Native Americans as "savages" as well as suggests that this term is unreasonable and unjustified. He mentions that the Native Americans have their very own special culture and lifestyle, which is different from that of the Europeans, yet this does not make them uncivilized or substandard.
Franklin recommends that the Europeans could discover a great deal from the Native Americans, specifically in terms of their regard for nature as well as their sense of community. He says that it is wrong to evaluate other cultures by the standards of one's very own culture which we need to instead aim to recognize as well as appreciate the distinctions in between cultures.
On the whole, Franklin's quote highlights the propensity of people to judge others based on shallow distinctions as opposed to making the effort to recognize their society as well as way of life. It likewise stresses the significance of multiculturalism and the need to value and also gain from various cultures.
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