On Cultural Correctness One culture tends to differ from another, of course. Distinction is definition. The U.S. is different from Canada, slightly. The U.S. is different from Iraq, markedly. If Canadians suddenly insisted on stockpiling strange and heinous weapons the hue and cry would be raised. As Canada has no further territorial ambitions, other than perhaps a nice warm Caribbean island, this is unlikely. “They just wouldn’t do that sort of thing because they are so like us,” is a reasonable response. The implication is that Iraq can stockpile on the sly as they are so unlike us. Distinctions of difference become more distinct as things more unlike are compared. Morality seems somehow grounded in similarity. Anthropologists study cultures. The current trend in anthropology is to look at other cultures with a detached eye -- so detached that judgments are often not permitted. It is considered improper for Westerners to condemn what are viewed as cruel practices within a nonwestern culture because the one judging stands outside the culture and therefore is biased. Of course, there is bias. Where is the point where a universal line is crossed? Something is done that is beyond the pale of civilization: widow immolation or suicide bombing. Accepted though these acts may be within their societies, they strike many people with horror. Why can there not be a standard that transcends cultures? Why can there not be things shared in common all over the world, commonness that makes anthropology possible? Some anthropologists have asserted that peoples’ minds vary so much from culture to culture that science itself is ethnically located in the West and invalid as a universal tool. The person from another culture consequently is “Other,” incomprehensible to an outsider. I.C. Jarvie defines cultural relativism: “all assessments are relative to some standard, and standards derive from cultures.” Hence no outsider can condemn any deviant practice that that culture says is acceptable. Gone are the means to discern what is above and below, gone are good and evil. Gone is the morality of judging bombs in Balinese nightclubs. Shakespeare noted that all people, if you prick them, bleed. James Clark ============================================================== (c) 2002 Millennium Relief & Development Services, vol. 2 no. 31c 'Insight' is a publication of MRDS to interpret current events in light of the experience of members of our international network. 'Insight' archives and other information can be found on our website. 'Insight' may be freely copied with this citation. If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, simply reply and request to be removed. Millennium RDS, 5116 Bissonnet #358, Bellaire, TX 77401-4007 Tel: (713)961-5645 Fax: (713)961-5735 www.mrds.org insight@mrds.org. ==============================================================