I tend to believe in cultural relativism. If you travel to a foreign country, you can't be judgmental about the new country's society. If they eat cats and dogs, like the Chinese, and your society doesn't, then you can't judge them based on your own society's norms. You can't say "That's disgusting and barbaric. I hate the Chinese." Does this mean you have to eat cats and dogs while you're visiting China? Absolutely not. But you can't be judgmental about it. Truly, the reason the Chinese (and Indians too, actually) eat dogs and cats is because they don't see them as pets. They think it's crazy that Americans live in the same house as animals and consider them part of the family, because that's not their culture. They don't have pets, and they don't differentiate between which animals are for food and which are for pets. That's understandable, right?
That's a perfect example. However, some countries in the Middle East stone women for cheating on their husbands. Some cultural relativists would say "Well, that's how their society works, so I can't judge them." However, how far is too far? I can't exactly keep myself from judging the people in those countries, because I can say stoning women for their own personal business is not right, especially when it's only WOMEN who get stoned for committing adultery. First off, it's torture. Second, it's sexism. Third, people's personal business is none of the government's business. So am I judging them by my own country's standards?
My dad says cultural relativism only goes so far. It's ok to for the Chinese to eat cats and dogs, because that doesn't have anything to do with discrimination, the mistreatment of someone, or the violation of someone's private life. I believe that, in major cases, like the one in the paragraph above, cultural relativism doesn't apply. I don't think it's right for those countries in the Middle East to stone women for cheating on their husbands. Call it judgment if you will, but it's not right. For anyone. Period.
How far is too far, though? There are probably some shades of gray in there, right? I don't know... But I will say I do believe in cultural relativism, and I'm not a fan of judgment. But what's just plain wrong by fact? And what's just an opinion based on the way someone was raised? Where do we draw the line?
This Middle Eastern woman was stoned for not conforming. A lot of these women die.
The only wrong thing about this is that cultural relativism only works in your own country. If you go to another country, you have to abide by their rules. You can't just do your own thing your own way and not expect to go to jail if it's against the rules of the country you're visiting.
I can see how this is a popular view, but there's more to it than this.
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