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 3 of 26)
31. Catholic preists abuse little boys quite frequently. Dnesh where is your outrage at this 'culture'?
mac65 at 11:03AM on Dec 12th 2007
32. Yes, dd, this muslim man should be praised and exalted, nay, deified, for killing his daughter. After all, I am a liberal, and I am obviously making your argument for you, and I feel that we should praise and understand and glorify the culture of this muslim father who killed his daughter. What a strong sense of belief and culture he has!! He is a hero among us libs and dems!!
dd: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THIS VERY REAL POST A THE BASIS FOR ONE OF YOUR FUTURE BLOGS ABOUT LIBS AND DEMS. GLAD I COULD HELP!! YER THE BEST, BUDDY!
obvious liberal at 11:07AM on Dec 12th 2007
33. People discuss things brian, get over it. DD is hardly 'the faithful'. Lmao. He has admitted that he thinks religion is manmade, or didn't you bother watching his debates. His only argument is that there is doubt about whether god exists so we should believe rather than disbelieve. He is clearly not a christian.
a born atheist at 11:06AM on Dec 12th 2007
34. DD playing the blame game, joshua playing the name game.
a born atheist at 11:08AM on Dec 12th 2007
35. So now DD is beginning to sound like a junior high (well, that's what we had in my day) debater. the team wouldn't even take him to the meet with that kind of logic.
"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.'"
-------------------------------
Compare apples and oranges?
Wouldn't it be better to compare the oral story telling traditions of the Inuit people to shakespeare? could you not find value and insight in such stories, as you would in shakespeare?
Sorry for the ad hominem, but DD is such a smug chauvinist.
Yuck
Linda at 11:10AM on Dec 12th 2007
36. I do not understand comments made by some respondents on "secular moral values". Are they saying that only people who subscribe to religious tenets are moral? I do not adhere to any religion, despite having once studied for the priesthood, and find the father's action most "morally" repugnant. DD is clearly off base, as well as those who feel that only church-goers can be moral.
Bill at 11:13AM on Dec 12th 2007
37. Nice to see Dinesh admitting to being a supremacist.
Robert I. Laitres at 2:11PM on Dec 12th 2007
38. this post from dinesh is so pathetic that i can't decide if i should laugh at dd or pity him. seems like he's desperately grasping at straws. just write a book about it dinesh! then you will have a full month's worth of self-promotion to fill your blogs.
Richelle at 11:20AM on Dec 12th 2007
39. Yes, Richelle.
He would call it
what's so great about conservative right wing neoocon culture?
He would cite every bad thing done by other cultures, and compare it incorrectly to every good thing about his culture.
Another best seller!!!!
Linda at 11:24AM on Dec 12th 2007
40. LOL! i think he's trying too hard to fit in with american culture and that's why he's adopted the attitudes of the old-fashioned uber-religious psycho-conservative patriot. ya'know, kinda like the ones we have here in wyoming. what's the matter dinesh, didn't get to join the boy scouts?
Richelle at 11:32AM on Dec 12th 2007
41. Linda,
Today let's interrupt the blog with the highly anticipated Apples vs Oranges debate! I'm pro-Orange. Oranges are rife with vitamin-C and is proven to prevent, even cure, scurvy. The peels can be used as slug repellent. Bring it on!
Mokele-Mbembe at 11:37AM on Dec 12th 2007
42. I'm thinking of a certain prayer...hmmm....what's that one part....
"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us"
Considering people stand up in a church and say this every week in unison (very enthusiastically I might add), I'd think that we would be more accepting of cultural difference. Who are you to say you're superior? Why? Because of technology? Religion?
How'd you feel if aliens landed, initially friendly and willing to co-exist, and later deemed that we were inferior, had inferior technology, inferior religion, and decided they should live here instead of us? Telling us to move to uninhabited parts of land or die? Lieing to us over and over? Feeling no compassion whatsoever, because after all, we have quaint folklore compared to their religion. Maybe after some years they would recognize that we're still legitimate lifeforms and deserve to live, and give us token assistance with what little we have left.
Sound familiar? I hope I made it obvious enough. Yeah, American culture is super-duper.
Strados at 11:39AM on Dec 12th 2007
43. Our tribal nature is to think that our own beliefs and ways of life are undoubtedly better than anyone who doesn't follow them. For proof, read the comments on Dinesh's blogs regarding atheism and Christianity. Most of them are people who are convinced that Christianity or Atheism is the only truth and that everyone else is blind. Obviously these people can't be called relativists.
I consider myself to be moderately anti-relativist though... I don't find anything wrong with most of the world's cultures, and I do enjoy reading about them and whatnot. But in the melting-pot society of the USA, assimilation should be the goal for anyone who comes here. A multicultural society is just asking for an increase in racism, ethnocentrism and crime between various groups. Look at France and Great Britain... their love affair with multiculturalism has caused some serious backlash.
Now the father of the girl in Canada had no right to kill, or even lay a hand on his daughter for wearing the headscarf. But this just happens to be one of the unfortunate outcomes of multiculturalism gone bad. Yeah, multicultural society sounds all good on paper... but so does another idealist movement called Communism (and we all saw how well that worked out).
No matter how much cultural relativism is encouraged, people will still think that their own cultures are somehow better. The mix of strong emotions on the anti-relativist side and a stubborn unwillingness to assimilate on the multiculturalist side is only asking for trouble.
Tony Messinger at 11:40AM on Dec 12th 2007
44. #15, ""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 "
Hey, Ryan , what is the hangup about using the the term "B.C." . I think the "BCE" term is supposed to be a replacement so as not to offend those who may not be followers of a particular religion. This is the first time where I have actually seen someone use this term. Oh, guess we'll have to re-write all thos history books and added foot notes where applicable.
M2D5 at 11:45AM on Dec 12th 2007
45. I've said this before and I will say it again. If some of the bloggers on this site despise Dinesh so much, why do they insist on reading his columns and posting to them? I don't read athiest columns and spew vile comments and filth about the person and their beliefs, no matter how wrong I feel they are. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs without persecution. You all must be curious or you wouldn't be reading them. If you don't like him, stop reading his columns. I doubt he would even care and I would be happy not to read some of the rotten things I've seen.
I also wanted to let you all know that I have been saying prayers for your souls (or lack thereof, since you don't believe in them) on a daily basis. Especially that of yours, Mokele-Mbembe, since you so desperately want Dinesh's passing. Probably not a good thing to post anywhere, especially a public internet forum.
Have a BLESSED day!
Sarah at 11:44AM on Dec 12th 2007