There is such a thing as “culture” and just because it is an intellectual construct does not make it any less “real”. People share values, traditions, influences and beliefs that are identifyable as “American”, “Chinese” whatever. They are not written in stone and there is a lot of blending of cultures and variation within cultures but that does not mean they don’t exist at some level.
The idea of “cultural relativism” is also bullshit. There are aspects of certain cultures that make them inherently “better” then other cultures. Freedom is better than slavery. Equal rights is better than classism. Tolerance is better than bigotry. Helping those in need is better than letting people starve in the streets.
It is unacceptible to me that certain practices should be excused because they are considered part of a particular “culture”. Slavery was once part of American culture. That does not mean that it was ever right.
I guess I can forgive you from sinking ONLY six or seven pints in an evening…if you are only going out for an hour or so…by yourself…
(what? I’m a quarter Irish. it’s part of my culture)
As a product of Western European and American society, judging other cultures is a part of my ethnic heritage, and I take exception to all the haters who try and take that away from me.
Here is a real-life, very non-controversial example. Stay with me, ok?
My best friend comes is a very recent immigrant. Her culture values intelligence and education very much. For women, it also places a high value on physical attractiveness to men. (Arranged marriages also.)
After we’d been friends for a while, I noticed that should would often try to put me down by saying that she was smarter than I (I would disagree, our grades were nearly identical) and pointing out that all of our male friends found her attractive (I would agree).
At first, I did not let it bother me because I accepted that our culture was different, and she didn’t understand why that would hurt me because our cultures were different.
Then I started thinking…our (popular) culture values some things in college-age women, too. Let’s see…it seems our culture thinks that college-age women should have nice clothes and drive nice cars. I didn’t make fun of my friend for not having fashionable clothes or a nice car. Our culture values thinness in women, I didn’t make fun of her because I’m thinner. Why? Because those things don’t matter to me, and if I did it would hurt her.
Is it wrong for me to judge her by saying I don’t think she should mock me for being “stupid” or unattractive? I don’t think so. It might be acceptable in her culture (I doubt it, though) but it’s not acceptable to me. It just seems like she is one person doing something not very nice. Much like the Aboriginal man in the other thread - he was one person holding a girl against her will and threatening her at gunpoint. Aboriginal customs should be upheld in Australia, but that’s not an aboriginal custom. Threatening someone with a gun is not accepted in American, Australian or Aboriginal traditions.
Maybe a guidline that Achilles would accept might be if the participant of a particular culture’s practices is unwilling to partake of that practice and only does so through the use of force. Can we not judge that practice as the participant is certainly then acting outside her own culture (which she understands because she is a part of said culture) and is in a position to inform us, by her actions alone, that the practice is wrong? <parsing error?>
Now, in my own bigoted opinion, any culture that hasn’t put a man on the moon is inferior and should be given little consideration in the grand scheme of things. Everyone who belongs to a culture that put a man on the moon, please stand up… The rest of you can go back to banging rocks together, human sacrifices, wearing funny headgear, and worshipping the Great Pumpkin et al.
