tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15139383.post3655269576783422682..comments2024-01-17T22:53:32.139-05:00Comments on The Pool Bar: 'Our culture is better'Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12382918421904501282noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15139383.post-82598943540596786662008-11-30T17:01:00.000-05:002008-11-30T17:01:00.000-05:00On the one hand, I agree that all cultures should ...On the one hand, I agree that all cultures should be respected, at least within the confines of their own particular geography. On the other, I have a hard time respecting a culture that is xenophobic, treats women as little more than breeding stock, and engages in all the other things you mention. And I don't believe it's right for us to be "tolerant" of that culture within the constructs our own culture.<BR/><BR/>If one's culture dictates, for example, that he kill his own teen-aged daughters for acting "too Western", he should have stayed the fuck in whatever 'stan he came from.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12382918421904501282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15139383.post-9521232937507752712008-11-30T10:33:00.000-05:002008-11-30T10:33:00.000-05:00The "all cultures are equal" is a falsehood - even...The "all cultures are equal" is a falsehood - even to some of the people who purport to advance the theory. For many of them, it's not that all cultures are equal, it's that Western culture is inferior or guilty of historic crimes, or both. <BR/><BR/>Great stock is placed in Eastern cures, revived Mayan practices, or even 'pre-Western' western pagan traditions. Find a car with some form of goddess awakens bumpersticker, and you'll find a person who believes all ills originate with the European male.<BR/><BR/>The all cultures are equal argument stems from something I do believe to be true - within limits - and that is all cultures should be respected. In North America it is not uncommon for people to keep Guinea Pigs as pets. In parts of Central and South America Guinea Pigs are food. I think both practices are a little weird, but in my opinion one is no more right or no more wrong than the other. <BR/><BR/>The limits? There is <I>no</I> 'all are equal' or 'respect all cultures' arguments to be made that will convince me that slavery is OK, that genital mutilation is all right, murdering gays by slowly hanging them with a crane is acceptable, or the appropriateness of stoning a rape victim to death.<BR/><BR/>And I <B>do</B> believe that Western culture is superior in many ways to some other cultures. But one aspect of our culture that helps make it better than most may be the downfall of the west - our openness. Our tolerance and acceptance of the other has been twisted into multi-culti, craven sandal-licking of those who would do us harm.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16513563650246873684noreply@blogger.com