There is Culture with a capital C (music, arts, literature, etc.) which is a universal way of expression and then there is culture with a lowercase c (heritage, dialects, common beliefs, traditions, etc.) which are typical of a very distinct group of people being part of a well-defined territory.
The first can and has since always helped human beings create bridges between different groups, since it is a common way to express ones’ feelings and can overcome the language and culture barriers.
The second is used to keep these group apart with the subtle yet very present assumption that each people has “the best” culture when compared to others.
If you cannot understand this difference I think we have a very big communication problem.
Those poor weak willed soft minded foreigners just can’t think for themselves or change. They are doomed to live only in the context of their scary different culture
Not every foreigner is unable to change, yet many remain stoic in their willingness to not assimilate by regrouping in ghettos when they move abroad. The issue is double-faced, on one side there are the immigrants who are not strong enough to pull out from their social group due to peer pressure and to the beliefs they were programmed to follow from a very young age; on the other side there are the receiving societies which tend to avoid the assimilation of new “cultures” (I’m using brackets to differentiate culture and Culture from now on) because they are afraid of new perspectives and ways of being and would avoid mixing with those to preserve their native “culture”.
Erase culture (intended as heritage) and humankind has only to gain from shedding these old ideas. If we would focus on what we have in common with the others instead of what are the differences between us we would all live much better, don’t you think?