One of the mantras of the "diversity" movement in America and the West is that all cultures are equal. The basic idea is that each culture is an adaptation to a particular environment. Therefore no culture is inherently preferable to another. The political significance of this is that all cultures are equally deserving of respect. The goal of education becomes one of inculcating in young people a respect for all the cultures of the world. By learning that our own culture is not superior, we also become less racist and bigoted toward other cultures.
This doctrine of cultural equality--or more precisely cultural relativism--sounds good when we are considering the quaint folkways of other cultures.
Undergraduates at Yale write papers noting "Who is to say that the Western practice of inventing new technologies is superior to the kangaroo-tracking techniques of the Australian aborigines?" Meanwhile the best students at Stanford can be heard opining that "Shakespeare may have had a rich and supple vocabulary, but let's remember that Eskimos have twenty seven words for 'snow.'"
Then comes a report like the one in Canada about the Muslim father who killed his sixteen-year-old daughter because she didn't want to wear a headscarf. Now it should be noted that the Koran does not mandate that Muslims wear the veil or hijab. These head coverings, however, have come to symbolize modesty in the Islamic world. And Muslim immigrants often bring with them their cultural expectations when they come to America.
Apparently the daughter, Aqsa Parvez, could not convince her parents that her head should be uncovered. She would wear Muslim dress out of the house and then change when she was out of her parents' sight. Perhaps this deception was discovered. Apparently the father Muhammad Parvez was enraged. According to police, he beat the girl so badly that she succumbed to injuries and died. Now the father is charged with murder and the older brother is charged with obstructing police.
I'm waiting to hear from the liberal champions of diversity on this one. Will they say, "Sure, we may not approve of beating one's daughter to death over a headscarf but let's remember that in other cultures they see it very differently. Why should we impose our parochial Western morality on others?" In Canada there may be judges crazy enough to let the murderer walk free. In the United States, I suspect we won't hear too much of this. The reason is that the American brand of cultural relativism is basically a fraud. It's a device to undermine and attack Western institutions and practices. Yet cultural relativism is quietly abandoned when it produces results that liberals don't like.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 26)
16. Sound familiar?
"May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me." 4th century BCE, Plato
"Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you." 5th century BCE, Socrates
Ryan Anderson at 10:30AM on Dec 12th 2007
17. I always used to hear that cultural diversity is so great, but never really understood what the big deal was. Now I think I understand. The moral is not about diversity itself is good, but diversity forces us to learn understanding and tolerance. This is where we get our melting-pot cultures, which are fundamentally different from homogeneous cultures like indigenous tribes and bible belts. A great question is how these cultures should interact.
Mokele-Mbembe at 10:34AM on Dec 12th 2007
18. Dinesh your god wiped a whole city because folks were engaging in homosexuality[ sodom].
One wonders if this was culturally motivated or religeously motivated, showing a lot of atheists point that religeon, all religions, are nutty
mac65 at 10:42AM on Dec 12th 2007
19. From an atheistic, libertarian (even conservative) point of view, murdering your child in a rage is not virtuous. While it may be permissable by Old Testament (Deuteronomy) standards, most religions (even Catholic) and secular governments formally limit parental abuse of children, certainly stopping short of murder. The recent actions of the Catholic Church to own its own problems with sex abuse of children by clergy is admission of the Catholic Church that it has standards it did not always meet.
Perhaps Dinesh can give us his view on the changing moral standards of his own brand of Christianity. The moral standards of the Old Testament God is not consistent with that of the New Testament. The Muslim father inherits and abides by a standard much more of the Old than the New. That the standard was not changed by all of us when it changed for many of us 2000 years ago, is unfortunate. No time like the present for the rest of us to catch up. Murdering your child is murder, and punishable regardless of what God speaks to you.
jamesg4336 at 10:46AM on Dec 12th 2007
20. Dinesh: The world is shrinking and we will have to engage these third and second (Balkins and former Soviet Union) societies on economic, diplomatic and military levels for the forseeable future. We can't afford to have our children grow up in intelectual isolation. Yes, Islamic radicalism - be it Al Quida or the murder you describe - is threat, however conmdeming Islam only makes it worse. Of course we Christians have both past and contemporary extremists who we're not proud of. Bottom line is anAmerica which is culturaly isolated is not good for us, nor the world
Grisha at 10:45AM on Dec 12th 2007
21. My great uncle, a Baptist preacher who lived his whole life in the USA, expected his daughter to wear long skirts to protect her modesty. He used to beat her for hiding jeans in her backpack and changing into them once she got to school. Sounds pretty similar to this case, doesn't it?
Dinesh, this kind of violence isn't about culture. It's about religious zealotry of ANY kind--and it happens right here in the USA. A Muslim zealot abuses his daughter for not wearing a head scarf. A Christian zealot abuses his daughter for not wearing a long skirt. There is no difference.
Katherine at 10:48AM on Dec 12th 2007
22. Sooo...another Dinesh blog that has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with politics...liberals...etc.
Hmmm...agenda much?
brandon at 10:49AM on Dec 12th 2007
23. I assume this is Mr. D'Souza's usual double slam at Muslims and liberals.
Most reasonable people don't like extremists of any kind. I no more want Michael Moore to run the U.S.A. than I want Pat Robertson to run it.
This man that killed his daughter is a crimnal, plain and simple. I don't believe any reasonable person would defend him, liberal or conservative.
David S. at 10:53AM on Dec 12th 2007
24. funny, D'Souza was all too ready to praise radical Islam when it gave him a stick to wield against American liberals. This guy really has no principles at all.
J. at 10:55AM on Dec 12th 2007
25. once again,
DD shows why he's the master of the atheist crowd. he writes a rather lame article and the atheist lumber over and start the worn out tirade of commenting on how ignorant dinesh is. will this get 500 responses from the atheist who have nothing going on. will they boycott once and for all. will they go over to richard dawkins web site and review his single cell theory? time will tell if DD can hold the faithful together for an admitted weak article. the real amusement is how the atheist will come groveling out once more
brian at 10:58AM on Dec 12th 2007
26. This man,(Dinesh)is trying so hard to be an American-USA, citizen that he, has forgoten what it is to be a (human being). So why is he contantly attack Muslims and Islam. Has he forgoten that this American-culture,forced the slave boy to imprenate his own (mother and sister), so genetically or behavioral, every society has its own cultural demons. Mr. Dinesh, what (cultural demons) are you running from!
Hamidullah at 11:05AM on Dec 12th 2007
27. Is god the same god now that he was in the old testament?
He seems very vindictive in the old writings.Much worse was said to be done than killing ones own child, as heinous as that is. God was always killing someone for some reason or another.
According to dinesh, we are all gods children, so does god not kill his own children also? Perhaps this muslim wanted to be like god or allah.
mac65 at 10:59AM on Dec 12th 2007
28. DD is yet again trying to imply that liberals (like atheists) have no morals. Considering that a RELIGIOUS and by all standards CONSERVATIVE man killed his daughter, I find this to be quite ironic. There are immoral people in all cultures, as Ryan so eloquently put it, but that is no measure of the moral fiber of an entire culture. The message in favor of cultural diversity is tolerance, of which DD knows little these days.
As a liberal atheist I reject the implication that I would, in any way, excuse this man's behavior. However, that doesn't mean I am going to blame all Muslims, spread hate speech, ask them to leave our country or even commit crimes against them. After all, I don't blame the entire country for the narrow-minded accusations of one man-yes, Dinesh, that would be you.
emma at 11:02AM on Dec 12th 2007
29. ironic that dinesh himself is a product of portuguese-east indian da souza inspired cultural diversity.
giles chauvin at 11:01AM on Dec 12th 2007
30. dd begins with:
One of the mantras of the "diversity" movement in America and the West is that all cultures are equal.
This is entirely untrue. The mantra is that cultures are different, and we should acknowledge and understand those differences. How could a movement named "diversity" claim that everyone is the same???
Of course your blog today is titled "All cultures are not equal". This is no surprise, as it has been proven at least as well as the existence of your god, that you are racist and feel that American blacks are inferior.
AND NOW, dd, I WILL GO SLAP YOUR MOTHER...ALL NIGHT LONG!!!
stuart joshua at 11:07AM on Dec 12th 2007