# Ignorance, hatred, stupidity ruin cultural awareness day at my son's school. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 30, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289 "2015-01-30T00:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/241 "2015-02-05T03:59:10Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > The rest of us are stuck living in a world where people who are ostensibly adults talk to the sky and inflict their delusions on others. As a lifelong atheist myself, I’ve seen plenty of ostensible adults inflicting delusions on others that have nothing to do with any sky-talk. In the last analysis, it’s not specifically religion that makes humans pervasively and persistently irrational. It’s humanity, of which religion is merely a frequent side effect. > [@AnaMen](#): > > The sight of a hijab literally pains me, and is a tangible and visible reminder that women are not truly considered people by much of the world. This is upsetting. Why should I or anybody else care what personal obsessions your weepy melodramatic woo-mind chooses to project onto some unknown woman’s choice of headscarf? A woman being literally forced to wear a headscarf by an oppressive tyrant who doesn’t truly consider her a person? Yes, that gives me a serious pain too. A woman with the freedom to make her own sartorial choices who chooses to wear a headscarf because she wants to? Doesn’t pain me in the least. But then I’m not a hypersensitive scold about other people’s personal cultural identifications. And I don’t think it’s their problem if something they like to wear happens to visually remind me of something else that gives me emotional ouchies. The fact that, say, the sight of a detergent commercial or a pair of high heels or a skirt apparently doesn’t hurt your fragile little feefees at all—despite the fact that such rigidly gendered material artifacts are just as much a part of the historical legacy of women’s oppression as a hijab is—tells us all we need to know about the real quality of the “rationality” you’re so proud of. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/242 "2015-02-05T04:24:53Z")
Besides, for all you know, that woman you see on the street might not even be wearing a hijab – she might have her head covered because she’s going through chemo and losing her hair. Or hell, maybe she just likes the scarf itself! (Audrey Hepburn used to wear scarves – they were actually quite popular in the fifties and sixties) ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/243 "2015-02-05T12:34:11Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Why should I or anybody else care what personal obsessions your weepy melodramatic woo-mind chooses to project onto some unknown woman’s choice of headscarf? Who asked anyone to care? I didn’t say she should be stopped. I was responding to the statement that no one should care about the scarf-wearing because it “hurt” no one. Although I have not personally set foot upon it’s soil, I’m quite sure Saudi Arabia is not a figment of my “woo-mind,” and genuinely exists. Women must cover there or they may be beaten or imprisoned. This is not my projection, it is a fact. > [@](#): > > A woman being literally forced to wear a headscarf by an oppressive tyrant who doesn’t truly consider her a person? Yes, that gives me a serious pain too. A woman with the freedom to make her own sartorial choices who chooses to wear a headscarf because she wants to? Doesn’t pain me in the least. Well, aren’t you lucky to have the magical power to know one situation from the other just like that! If only you’d been in Ontario a few years when 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was the victim of an “honor killing.” The child was beaten to death by her father and brother for not wearing the hijab. ( [Murder of Aqsa Parvez - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Aqsa_Parvez) ) Of course since this was Canada, they were charged with murder instead of cheered for, but unfortunately, the girl remains deceased. > [@](#): > > But then I’m not a hypersensitive scold about other people’s personal cultural identifications. And I don’t think it’s their problem if something they like to wear happens to visually remind me of something else that gives me emotional ouchies. Of course it isn’t THEIR problem. They are the victim of brainwashing. Why would I be upset at _them_? I know that most people would agree with you, and that the fact that women are treated as they are is just the way it is, no need to shed a tear. If not, it wouldn’t be this way. > [@](#): > > The fact that, say, the sight of a detergent commercial or a pair of high heels or a skirt apparently doesn’t hurt your fragile little feefees at all—despite the fact that such rigidly gendered material artifacts are just as much a part of the historical legacy of women’s oppression as a hijab is—tells us all we need to know about the real quality of the “rationality” you’re so proud of. A detergent commercial? If you mean some particular sexist type where a woman successfully removing armpit stains from a man’s shirt defines her existence and makes her life worth slogging through for another day, obviously those bring my blood to a simmer. Skirts are not really a sign of oppression, but a logical garment for convenient elimination in pre-toilet days. Dress codes requiring skirts for females only though definitely enrage me. My feelings about high-heeled shoes would need their own separate rant. And I must throw in laws that require that women wear tops while men do not have to. This is the worst one of all, as there is no sign that it will ever change. It is simply part of the landscape and not seen as mutable, plus, look how much worse it is for women in some other places, so we are supposed just be glad we aren’t there. As if women are inherently to be without rights and any that are granted are a measure of the benevolence of the decision-makers in our culture. Suffice it to say, your assumptions are completely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/244 "2015-02-05T13:03:51Z")
> [@random6x7](#): > > Another fun thing about anthropology, and a big reason that I think it should be mandatory in high schools, is that it teaches you that your own culture is often quite irrational in ways that you don’t realize. Do you, for instance, regularly eat insects? If not, that’s utterly irrational. They are an excellent source of protein, abundant in the environment, and they are more sustainable than traditional US livestock. Do you dress up for weddings or funerals? Why? Those clothes tend to be uncomfortable and there’s no real reason that we wear suits or dresses instead of pajamas to those events. You, like all people, are full of these irrational beliefs that you follow without consideration simply because your culture taught you to. I’d consider that before declaring myself King/Queen of All That Is Right and True. What kind of dolt does not realize their own culture is irrational? Your examples of this do not work, so I hope you are not teaching such a class. I don’t eat insects for perfectly rational reasons. Where would I get them? I can buy pork chops at the grocery store for $3/lb., but it would cost me hours of effort to trap a pound of my own insects. Since even at minimum wage I could have myself a pound of pork less than 30 minutes of effort, wasting hours on unpleasant insect-pursuit would be irrational. Then consider that most people use poisonous pest-control levels, which could certainly make my dinner of insects quite toxic. Poisoning myself with tainted insects is not rational either. I have eaten some insects, and many are quite bitter. None tasted good. Eating food I don’t like the taste of is also irrational. I dress up for weddings and funerals so as not to distract from the purpose of the event and draw attention to myself. It’s called being polite, not irrational. One’s choice of attire also serves as a coded system of communication. Ditching a well-established source of non-verbal communication is not necessarily rational either. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/245 "2015-02-05T15:29:53Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Well, aren’t you lucky to have the magical power to know one situation from the other just like that! Another rationality fail for you, unsurprisingly. It’s precisely because I **don’t** have the “magical power” to unfailingly tell the difference between an oppressive situation and a nonoppressive one based only on an item of clothing that I don’t reflexively get all upset just from seeing said item of clothing. [QUOTE=AnaMen] If only you’d been in Ontario a few years when 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was the victim of an “honor killing.” [/quote] And yet another rationality fail swirling in the mist of your recreational outrage. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/246 "2015-02-05T15:40:39Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Another rationality fail for you, unsurprisingly. > > It’s precisely because I **don’t** have the “magical power” to unfailingly tell the difference between an oppressive situation and a nonoppressive one based only on an item of clothing that I don’t reflexively get all upset just from seeing said item of clothing. > And yet another rationality fail swirling in the mist of your recreational outrage. Yep, if only I could just keep my eyes pointed directly on the next clump of grass before me like you, oh Zen master. Sometimes black people are just picking cotton because they like it. None of my business! Sometimes Jewish people just like to wear stars stitched to their clothes. Why think the worst? Female genital mutilation or voluntary body modification? Let’s just assume everyone is living the life they deserve and move on. Why get involved or even think a negative thought when we can just ignore and move on? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/247 "2015-02-05T15:48:06Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Yep, if only I could just keep my eyes pointed directly on the next clump of grass before me like you, oh Zen master. Sometimes black people are just picking cotton because they like it. None of my business! Sometimes Jewish people just like to wear stars stitched to their clothes. Why think the worst? It is really funny when the self-proclaimed “rational” New Atheist types start showing you how their boasted “reasoning” processes actually work. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/248 "2015-02-05T16:32:56Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > It is really funny when the self-proclaimed “rational” New Atheist types start showing you how their boasted “reasoning” processes actually work. I’m not an atheist, but thanks for telling me my beliefs. You sure are insightful! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/249 "2015-02-05T16:50:35Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > I’m not an atheist I didn’t claim you were. You’re still a classic “New Atheist type” in your swaggering about rationality while being persistently irrational. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/250 "2015-02-05T17:05:01Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Yep, if only I could just keep my eyes pointed directly on the next clump of grass before me like you, oh Zen master. Sometimes black people are just picking cotton because they like it. None of my business! Sometimes Jewish people just like to wear stars stitched to their clothes. Why think the worst? Female genital mutilation or voluntary body modification? Let’s just assume everyone is living the life they deserve and move on. Why get involved or even think a negative thought when we can just ignore and move on? How do you function on a day-to-day basis when you’re this stupid? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/251 "2015-02-05T17:12:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > How do you function on a day-to-day basis when you’re this stupid? Muscle memory. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/252 "2015-02-05T17:33:57Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > How do you function on a day-to-day basis when you’re this stupid? Aw, is mom nagging you to get out of her basement and get a real job? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/253 "2015-02-05T18:29:48Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Aw, is mom nagging you to get out of her basement and get a real job? Weak sauce. 5/10, and I’m being generous. Want a mulligan? ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/254 "2015-02-05T18:57:13Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Weak sauce. 5/10, and I’m being generous. Want a mulligan? Only if it’s Carey. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/255 "2015-02-05T19:40:09Z")
Sally Sparrow FTW. I can look at her all day without blinking. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/256 "2015-02-06T01:41:44Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > A detergent commercial? If you mean some particular sexist type where a woman successfully removing armpit stains from a man’s shirt defines her existence and makes her life worth slogging through for another day, obviously those bring my blood to a simmer. > > Skirts are not really a sign of oppression, but a logical garment for convenient elimination in pre-toilet days. Dress codes requiring skirts for females only though definitely enrage me. > > My feelings about high-heeled shoes would need their own separate rant. > > And I must throw in laws that require that women wear tops while men do not have to. This is the worst one of all, as there is no sign that it will ever change. It is simply part of the landscape and not seen as mutable, plus, look how much worse it is for women in some other places, so we are supposed just be glad we aren’t there. As if women are inherently to be without rights and any that are granted are a measure of the benevolence of the decision-makers in our culture. > > Suffice it to say, your assumptions are completely wrong. Is there anything out there that like, _doesn’t_ make you angry? (Honestly, this thread makes me WANT to wear a hijab the next time I go out. And a crucifix.) ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/257 "2015-02-06T02:39:10Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Is there anything out there that like, _doesn’t_ make you angry? > (Honestly, this thread makes me WANT to wear a hijab the next time I go out. And a crucifix.) You should do exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/258 "2015-02-06T02:56:33Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > And I must throw in laws that require that women wear tops while men do not have to. This is the worst one of all, as there is no sign that it will ever change. [Maybe you should get out more.](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/nyregion/a-police-roll-call-reminder-women-may-go-topless.html) In New York: > [@](#): > > The state’s highest court ruled more than two decades ago that baring one’s chest in public — for noncommercial activity — is perfectly legal for a woman, as it is for a man. [Female Toplessness (Legality):](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toplessness#Legality) > [@](#): > > Most jurisdictions do not have laws prohibiting toplessness directly, but in many jurisdictions a topless woman may be socially or officially harassed or cited for public lewdness, indecent exposure, public indecency or disorderly conduct.[31] Enforcement of such standards is subject to community standards, which are subject to change over time. Most prosecutions commence with a complaint being made to the police by a member of the public, and a judge would be required to adjudicate as to the indecency etc. of the exposure. ---
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/259 "2015-02-06T03:06:05Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Some may, some may not. Assuming that ALL religious types are going to respond that way, well, that says more about you than them. Not to mention if you use terms like “deluded” “sky fairy” “woo”, etc, people aren’t exactly going to respond very kindly. :rolleyes: I don’t actually use language like that to someone’s face, at least not at first. The fact remains that religion is given a free pass, when, unlike other protected categories, it’s a choice with real impacts on both the adherent and the rest of us. > [@](#): > > There are some theories that the whole notion of the [Eucharist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_presence_of_Christ_in_the_Eucharist) stems from the [mystery cults](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries) of ancient Greece and Rome. That’s genuinely very interesting. Pagan roots, then, similar to the backstories of Christmas and Easter? Honest question: could a student ask those kinds of questions of their classmates without running afoul of religion’s protected status? > [@](#): > > So it probably be something more like “why do Catholics pray to saints” or talking about confession. That too! Or, perhaps asking about the utterly wrong historical claims made by Mormonism. > [@](#): > > I don’t know about Muslims, but one thing to keep in mind about Christianity is that Biblical literalism is a fairly recent movement. It has never been a Catholic teaching, and Catholic tends to be a very complex religion. It’s not a black and white thing. You have centuries of Biblical scholars studying and discussing and debating the Bible. They also take in mind the time it was written, what the intent was, context, etc. Remember – the Bible isn’t just one book. It’s a collection of books. True; most of the literalist/fundamentalist movements around today are pretty modern. Secularists/atheists/etc. like me love to throw it down as a challenge, though. I mean, it’s like Sam Harris says regarding moderate religiosity: It’s like saying you only “sort of” believe in it. Put up or shut up, believers! > [@](#): > > If this is how you talk to religious people, then I can see exactly WHY they treat you as they do. Going on the defensive much? :rolleyes: No, I don’t, but they get set off by the slightest challenge. They often find the idea unfathomable, and frankly that’s understandable. And no, in a case like this, I’m actually going on the offensive, not the defensive. > [@](#): > > Key phrase being, “The Xians I grew up around” It happens all over the place. > [@](#): > > Well maybe you should have a drink. It might loosen you up and then you might not be such an uptight prick. I mean, why don’t you drink? Do you think you’re better than the rest of us? God, I hate teetotalers. Here’s the difference. A big part of the reason I’m [straight-edge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge) is because I resent the implication from godly types that people like me are all debauched and shallow, caring only for that which is materialistic and sensual. I also think that people will be more likely to take my positions seriously if they can’t call me a drunk or a pothead and/or a “dirty hippie.” I don’t think I’m necessarily better than those who are not sXe, and if I was a parent or guardian, and one of my (sufficiently-mature) charges was not sXe, I would not necessarily mete out punishments (or even think less of them). That’s the diametric opposite of something like honor killing, or even something much less extreme. My choice to be sXe has nothing to do with fear of disappointing some celestial dictator who is always watching (_how is that thought comforting_?), and instead stems from a thoroughly rational position. Challenge to it is not blasphemy or heresy. See the difference? > [@](#): > > “Superstition”, “backwardness”, etc – if these are the words you use, DUH! Of COURSE bpeople are going to call you a dick, dumbass! They’re often _apt_. What else should one say, if not the truth? > [@](#): > > You’re not asking “tough questions” – you seem to get off on trolling. No, it’s the former. I don’t just show up to insult people and try to provoke them. I wanted to see if the Mormons could answer my questions about their fraudulent history (regarding the indigenous Americans, among other things). I want the picketers of Planned Parenthood to explain why sending souls on a guaranteed trip to Heaven is a bad thing. > [@](#): > > By health, I’m assuming you mean if someone’s starving, and all they have to eat is pork? Then yes, it is permitted for Jews and Muslims to eat pork. No, I mean reasoning based on the (empirically sound) negative consequences for the individual or for the planet that come from consuming certain foodstuffs. Is it based on reality, or celestial fiat? > [@random6x7](#): > > Nonsense. The progressive, rational, left-wing preachers I know take their religion very seriously, and in fact say they get their progressive rationality from their religious beliefs. Are you honestly going to tell me that they’re doing their religion wrong? So that the only proper way to be religious is to be the worst kind of fundamentalist? Great, now you’ve One True Scotsmanned your way to proving your point of view. How rational of you. How can one, in good faith, take only the “good” parts of a “holy” book seriously? Would you eat a salad or jump into a swimming pool that each contained but one visible piece of fecal matter, provided alternatives were available? > [@](#): > > As for cultural relativism, there are certainly perversions of it; it does not actually require that you aren’t horrified by FGM or similar cultural practices. However, the cultural relativism as is defined by anthropologists, who made it up in the first place, requires that they try to understand the practice within the framework of the culture it’s in. And the magic thing about this is that, if you still believe a practice is horrific, you’ll have a better idea how to change the group’s custom. Going in all Mighty Whitey and insisting that they do things your way just makes people more stubbornly cling to their traditional values. Something like FGM, by understanding what’s behind it, you can address those issues so that people will change on their own. You can provide more opportunities for women in education and employment, for instance, that makes them less dependent on undergoing the procedure and thus less likely to insist that their daughters and granddaughters do. There’s no need for the race card, inasmuch as plenty of people of all ethnicities loathe FGM and all of the rationalizations behind it. So you’re saying that cultural relativism doesn’t mean that all cultures and practices thereof are equally valid, and any criticism is racist? Because that’s what always seems to happen. As for FGM, I’d be more than happy to end it at gunpoint. It’s a pretty good example for this thread, though, as it stems from a cross-religious fear of female sexuality and overall sex-negativity. It’s taking the attitude that gives us bedsheets as garments to its logical conclusion. > [@](#): > > Another fun thing about anthropology, and a big reason that I think it should be mandatory in high schools, is that it teaches you that your own culture is often quite irrational in ways that you don’t realize. Do you, for instance, regularly eat insects? If not, that’s utterly irrational. They are an excellent source of protein, abundant in the environment, and they are more sustainable than traditional US livestock. Do you dress up for weddings or funerals? Why? Those clothes tend to be uncomfortable and there’s no real reason that we wear suits or dresses instead of pajamas to those events. You, like all people, are full of these irrational beliefs that you follow without consideration simply because your culture taught you to. I’d consider that before declaring myself King/Queen of All That Is Right and True. I’m a vegetarian, so while yes, I know that insects are a better protein source than livestock, there are better sources than that. I dress up for events like that if that’s what the hosts want, since it’s their party. However, I have always said that if I do get married for some reason, I want to have a punk-rock wedding; the complete antithesis of the stuffy bourgeois event you’re implying. The same goes for my funeral. Nice try. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Besides, for all you know, that woman you see on the street might not even be wearing a hijab – she might have her head covered because she’s going through chemo and losing her hair. Or hell, maybe she just likes the scarf itself! (Audrey Hepburn used to wear scarves – they were actually quite popular in the fifties and sixties) Not all scarves are the same. Far from it! Take a look at pictures of Afghan society during their 1930s-1970s golden age (and then feel despair). Many women wore no head covering, and many others wore what amounted to little bandannas. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Is there anything out there that like, _doesn’t_ make you angry? If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289/260 "2015-02-06T03:15:23Z")
> [@camille](#): > > [Maybe you should get out more.](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/nyregion/a-police-roll-call-reminder-women-may-go-topless.html) In New York: > [Female Toplessness (Legality):](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toplessness#Legality) I am well aware of this pocket of decency, thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-hatred-stupidity-ruin-cultural-awareness-day-at-my-sons-school/711289.md?page=14)