Mnguu A Dekelel (Highest Social Fine) When a person offends the community or causes disharmony by terrible acts, he/she will be rebuked (ng mechokl er a mederir a remereder er a beluu) in the highest possible social setting and accorded the harshest shame. He/she has to pay stiffest fine in the form of dekelel (the most valuable stone money for that clan) which is also known as bertelel a blai (hidden treasure). This stone money is never displayed in public because it will cause envy and possibility of being acquired by other clan of higher power or influence. So most of the time, nobody really knows the dekelir a rubeliil (the hidden money of other households) for this reason. It is also said this norm set modesty (ng diak di dousulecholt a ngera er kid) as a rule for public conduct. Traditional culture is more civilized after all as opposed to the contemporary modern culture that bears all. As part of the modern freedom culture perspective, Palauan people are showing all for the purpose of exhibitionism (klimang el olsulecholt a nglengarbab me a ilteet) just like at the Hamptons show tell culture. I see not only one stone money but few beads enough to make a “iek” (string of series of Palauan stone monies) normally belonging to affluent artisans (merau el chad er a omelasch el blai ma mlai) or status of nobility (ududir a re meteet) being fashioned by women from all walks of life as ornaments. Furthermore as to add more exhibition value, stone monies and gold necklaces are worn at the same time nowadays as a show of wealth. Show more and be more in public has become the new norm (mla mo doltirakl). I want to take note of this new boldness that has become part of mainstream Palauan behavior (ng mo teletael er a rebetok el chad). This has its influence from the American culture based on a society where people do not know each other because there are millions of them. This exhibitionist culture has no limits and tends to feed on daring. Super popular people lose their sense by trying to outdo others accidentally (SUPPOSEDLY) showing some of their private parts like Janet Jackson breast popping out incident during Super Bowl and Britney Spears where the sun should not shine bare crotch photographed by paparazzi as she was getting out of a car. And these are social trend setters. Who gets more attention is powerful in this modern culture. And this has come to Palau. A mechas of Irai was exiled to Ngermid because her private part was exposed in public long time ago. On the other hand, I see no one in US society trying to exile Janet or Britney. This somewhat has become tolerated and accepted in modern Palauan society today. Our standards have improved if you can call it that in comparative terms or analysis with our standards of the past (alsekum ke de mengaisisiu a ika el teblong). As a result, Palauans today have evolved from very modest nature (ke de diak de sa lolecholt a ngara er kid) to a very flashy public conduct (souad e locholt a rokui er a buai). The greatest danger today is many Palauans are putting everything about themselves in the social media network. Once upon time telemarketers worked hard and spent millions of dollars to get information on people. I am amazed how freely people give their personal data to FaceBook which has succeeded in befriending most of its users like it is their grandmother. People tell the FB intimate information on their preferences on just about everything including relationships. By inserting endless survey questions on various topics by just clicking like button, FB has become the most powerful telemarketer on the planet working for the highest bidder among multi-nationals. Some of the postings are bordering indiscreet to very careless. In doing so, we have actually given our dekeled (most treasured) to FB as a part of this modern culture of show all tell all. This old Palauan principle is still very smart and even relevant in the world of FB after all.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 05:47:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015