For a Westerner to trash Western culture is like criticizing our nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere on the grounds that it sometimes gets windy, and besides, Jupiter's is much prettier. You may not realize its advantages until you're trying to breathe liquid methane.
Interpretation
Critiquing one's own culture requires an understanding of its benefits and complexities.
In this quote, Neal Stephenson emphasizes the importance of recognizing and appreciating the nuances of one's own culture, even when it may have flaws. By comparing Western culture to the atmosphere necessary for life, he illustrates that it is easy to overlook its advantages when one is not in a position to experience alternatives that are less hospitable or suitable.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about cultural appreciation in a philosophy class.
Like any place in Reality, the Street is subject to development. Developers can build their own small streets feeding off of the main one. They can build buildings, parks, signs, as well as things that do not exist in Reality, such as vast hovering overhead light shows and special neighborhoods where the rules of three-dimensional spacetime are ignored.
Humans needed water or they would die, but dirty water killed as surely as thirst. You had to boil it before you drank it. This culture around tea was a way of tiptoeing along the knife edge between those two ways of dying.
Well, all information looks like noise until you break the code.
It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.
Wait a minute, Juanita. Make up your mind. This Snow Crash thing—is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?" Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference?
I always tend to assume there's an infinite amount of money out there." There might as well be, "Arsibalt said, "but most of it gets spent on pornography, sugar water and bombs. There is only so much that can be scraped together for particle accelerators.
Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone.
Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.
The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me That I can no longer call myself A man, a woman, an angel, Or even pure Soul.
Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.
It's ridiculous that we continue to incarcerate anyone for using a substance that actually causes far less damage than alcohol. No one goes out looking for fights on marijuana. No one dies from marijuana intoxication. And no one should be jailed for possessing marijuana.
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