Clearly the globalization paradigm, mostly propelled by the World Wide Web revolution, has transformed the contemporary world in such a dramatic fashion that transnational or cross-cultural learning has become relatively easy.

Besides, there is nothing we know that indicates that learning a new idea from other people or trying to adopt some sensible values from different cultures, apart from our own, is wrong. After all, consciously or subconsciously, we all learn from each other every day.

More significantly, humans innately understand and make sense of their surroundings by drawing constant associations and comparisons. This is to say our inclination to replicate or copy prevailing ideas, things, or cultural phenomena that capture our imaginations and curiosities, is not only a never-ending natural process but also it is an intrinsic part of human essence. Simply put, by nature, humans are paragons of “copy machines.” 

The problem, however, is when some people start behaving as if they can’t smartly distinguish between reasonable copying and indiscriminate mimicking of other cultural lifestyles. Candidly looking at the socio-cultural trend of Ghanaian society today, it is becoming increasingly obvious that many people, including the so-called celebrities, are trying hard to run away from themselves while desperately over-mimicking, especially, many of the western habits at the detriment of their own healthy or rich culture.

The sad thing about this over-copying saga is that—as my late mother who once lived in the United States used to remind me over here—no matter how long “a wood falls and stays in the pond, it can never turn into a crocodile.” In simple terms, irrespective of the metamorphosis a wood may undergo, once a wood always a wood.

Just ask any person of Ghana or Africa descent who has ever lived or currently lives in any of the western countries, and the person will be the first to admit that as long as an individual has foreign-sounding surnames or any trace of (say) non-British or –American accent, the native-born citizens will not stop asking: “You don’t have pure American accent, where are you originally from?”  

So far as your name is not “John Smith, Anita Cook, or better yet, you don’t speak with clear British or American accent, people born and raised in these countries will still keep suggesting to you directly or indirectly that you are a foreigner living in their country. So, why do some Ghanaians act as “westerners” in their own country as if the British, French, or Americans really care whether or not someone living in Ghana or in any other part of Africa is busy trying to over-copy their ways of life?

As we speak today, there are many Ghanaians who have not even travelled outside the shores of Ghana before, but ignorantly making every effort to act and sound like a British or an American whenever they speak English language either in an ordinary conversation or on the public forum such as the news media. The point is not that people can’t pretend to be whatever they want to be.

Rather, what many of us are trying to figure out is if the thought of some of these Ghanaians acting like Brits or Americans in their own land of birth makes them feel good about themselves and thus attract more attention from others that they are excellently advanced English speakers?

Here are some mind-boggling questions worth asking: What are all these aristocratic western pretenses over mimicking in Ghana about? Is it a clear exhibition of the lingering inferiority complexes left behind as a result of the dark past of colonialism that makes everything from the West “God sent”?   

Or is it just innocent over-copying of other cultural habits because internet innovations have knocked down distances between modern societies? In fact, the Westernization mimicry is not restricted only to some of the folks working as the news presenters, radio commentators, neither is it peculiar to the “latter-day” TV pastors who use skin lighteners to have bright skin tones to look like their counterparts in the Western societies. Undoubtedly, the over-copying of western lifestyles drain into Ghanaians’ dressing and eating habits too.

For example, gone are the days when a loved one passed away and the family would somberly but moderately perform the funeral rites without the need for ostentatious cooking of large meals as well as providing costly drinks just to entertain the guests after the burial. Keep in mind most of these post-funeral meals, popularly known as “take-away,” are full of fats and unhealthy cholesterol-building additives that many Ghanaians don’t even know or care about the harmful effects the food have on their bodies.   

The foregoing disturbing trend brings to sharp focus an important study that recently came out. In a report published on December 14, 2015 in the scientific journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, it was revealed that effective screening and lifestyle adjustments have helped to reduce the prevalence of many cancers and other life-threatening diseases in many high-income countries, but the low- and middle-income societies (like Ghana?) are seeing those rates rise as they copy unhealthy Western habits.

One of the study’s authors, Dr. David Katz, Director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center and president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, posited that “as barriers to the sale of cigarettes in the United States have mounted, tobacco exports have increased. The United States is also exporting fast food, junk food, soda, labor-displacing technologies and lifestyle practices that foster obesity and diabetes.”

In the same report, the lead author Lindsey Torre, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society stated “what's interesting is that in low- and middle-income countries, we are starting to see rising rates of the same cancers or diseases that have been common in high-income countries because of the uptake of Western lifestyles, like smoking and excess body weight." 

Do you blame the Western nations? The answer should is No; because, none of those countries forces Ghanaian leaders/traders to import unhealthy food into the country. Plus, it seems like many Ghanaians are so caught up in the western lifestyles to the point that they cannot let go their newly-found ‘westernized taste'.

Also, it is obvious many Ghanaians are happily choosing the hormone-filled and fatty imported food from the advanced countries over locally-grown food such as ripe plantains, beans, and fresh fish. As the above study suggested, even many people in the West are cautious and refusing to buy unhealthy foods into their dinner tables.

But, unfortunately, in many Ghanaian homes today, the opposite is the case, although as a low-income nation Ghana does not have effective health screening programs that may help catch and treat some of these deadly diseases before it is too late. Yet many of them can’t stop making some irrational choices. Remember, you’re what you eat or put into your body.

Bernard Asubonteng is based in the United States. He teaches political science and critical thinking at a university/college-level. He can be reached at: detrio03@aol.com