And believe me, not all cultures are equal, despite what the multiculturalists of today might claim
I can't help it, guys--this is my usual rant. I'm sorry, but I can't help myself. Feel free to ignore, since I'm just venting here.
It never fails to crawl under my skin how the vast majority of people I've encountered can claim this without interrogating all the implications that are inherent in positing certain cultures above others (which is the ugly reality behind the "not all cultures are equal" claim).
It's easy to look to the past and chuckle at how deluded people were back then and how much better we are now. But unfortunately the rhetoric of "not all cultures are equal" has been a powerful tool for the further erosion of "human rights" in many parts of the world (and continues to be so which is the more chilling aspect). It's the basis for the argument that certain groups can't govern themselves, we need to
teach (aka govern for ) them and while we're at it take a nice helping of their resources, y'know, 'coz nothing is free and they wouldn't know what to do with it anyway.
Furthermore, on what basis are cultures not equal? On whether human rights are present or not (which seems to be the hot issues nowadays)? Human rights are a relatively recent phenomenon and I'm led to think their presence now partly obscures the collosal
lack of human rights that has framed much of Western history (making it no different from history anywhere else, if we're framing it in those terms). But of course it's convinient to forget all the atrocities committed in so-called first world countries (especially ones that happen outside the aforementioned first world countries--the ones that the Enlightenment championed particularly). That way, we can point the finger and it can be some other culture that is less.
Poor them, they don't know any better. Perhaps we should govern for them? That turned out well.
I have no problem condemning unjust actions, but I do think it's responsible and ethical to educate oneself about them first because there are logics at work that can't be undone until we know the root cause. More importantly than that, I feel that to be an ethical person especially in today's diverse world, it is necessary to let go of this "not all cultures are the same" ("some cultures are better than others," let's be real here) rhetoric which laid the foundation for a great deal of the conflicts in the world today and repeats itself like a self fulfilling profecy. It's useless and harmful.
How can we ever communicate with others when we're approaching them with an inherent sense of superiority?
alcyone
