...effects than others? Right now, it's PC to say that every culture is valid and to be respected, that no group gets to arbitrarily say its mores should be the mores of everyone.
But what if, say, wife beating is present in the South at a rate four times higher than in the West. Despite all their great iced tea and Faulkner's literature, isn't Southern culture inferior to Western culture in this area? And don't we have a right (or obligation) to seek out the root mental justifications of this wife beating and ridicule it?
Same goes for female circumcision in Africa, vandalism in Britain or irresponsibly high levels of reproduction within Mormonism.
Anna and e.w.,
I'm certainly open to questioning male circumcision. The point is that some cultural norms have long histories and deep traditions ... but that doesn't make them ethical. I think we all agree on that, no?
But what if, say, wife beating is present in the South at a rate four times higher than in the West. Despite all their great iced tea and Faulkner's literature, isn't Southern culture inferior to Western culture in this area? And don't we have a right (or obligation) to seek out the root mental justifications of this wife beating and ridicule it?
Same goes for female circumcision in Africa, vandalism in Britain or irresponsibly high levels of reproduction within Mormonism.
Anna and e.w.,
I'm certainly open to questioning male circumcision. The point is that some cultural norms have long histories and deep traditions ... but that doesn't make them ethical. I think we all agree on that, no?