Are all cultures equal? -

[The Nothingness]

I ask this in response to how some argue that no culture is better or more advanced/civilized and those who believe that not all cultures are equal are xenophobic/bigoted. So given people on this forum come from all different backgrounds, feel free to share your thoughts.

 

[Beaniebon]

All are equal? Equal in what? More advanced I'm assuming. Well, this is one of those things that have no definite answer and it's very subjective. But if, say, and Alien race were to come here and observe us, they're probably view the 1st world (the US, UK, Japan, ect.) as more advanced.

 

[The Lizard Queen]

Oh gods no.

You can't compare a culture that compels men to burn their dishonored women to death in order to maintain social norms to cultures that have elected female leadership and don't stone them for showing off some skin.

 

[CWCchange]

In their own countries, yes.

But then again, I wouldn't give a fuck if that was the case.

 

[Kartoffel]

I think it depends heavy on your position in that culture, how much you value it. If you are at a honored person and get people to do what you want, and might be off better than most of your peers, you'll think that it is the proper and best way of living; while on the other hand the girl that gets her genitalia mutilated so that she will never be capable of enjoying sex (and to activly want it), might see it as a shitty and highly overrated system.

 

[Joan Nyan]

Of course not. Some cultures have gone into space while others still live in mud huts. And even when you force civilization upon them they still act like savages because their culture hasn't changed.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

It depends a lot on what metric you're using to judge "equality". Equal in what sphere? Morality, I have to assume.

In that case, no, all cultures are not equal. Some cultures think it's totally cool to do horrific shit because God wills it, or because they get a free pass because they are the "chosen people" and above all others, or a million other explanations/reasons.

 

[HG 400]

I ask this in response to how some argue that no culture is better or more advanced/civilized and those who believe that not all cultures are equal are xenophobic/bigoted. So given people on this forum come from all different backgrounds, feel free to share your thoughts.

lol

 

[Some JERK]

No, of course they aren't. There are many cultures that exist nowhere except history books because they weren't able to compete with other cultures they came in contact with.

 

[Ntwadumela]

Every culture has its intelligent, innovative people, but this doesn't really mean that every country's culture is equal. You have Pakistani culture for example which allows married women to be beaten by their husbands, have acid thrown on their faces and be burned alive. This shit wouldn't fly in Kuwait for example as it has exponentially more rights for women then Pakistan. Western culture (US, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) has a leg up over the majority of places since a lot of reform and action has taken place to get to that point, but no culture is truly flawless. However some cultures' flaws are greater and more pronounced than others.

 

[TowinKarz]

Oh gods no.

You can't compare a culture that compels men to burn their dishonored women to death in order to maintain social norms to cultures that have elected female leadership and don't stone them for showing off some skin.

Agree, but, trying to rank cultures on any kind of scale is an exercise in frustration. Nobody's food is "better" than anyone else's, nobody's literature or scientific advancements are "better", and nobody's morals are "better", I do believe in cultural relativism as far as ranking works of art or day-to-day societal rituals.

But, there ARE certain things that just fly in the face of common human decency that I think any rational person could agree is just wrong at best, and heinously evil at worst (like stoning women to death for getting pregnant from an act of rape) that no amount of special pleading of "it's part of the culture" can excuse.

And it's not because a certain ethnic group is doing it, it's because it's being done to a HUMAN BEING and it's WRONG.

 

[Some JERK]

Nobody's food is "better" than anyone else's

Nutritional value isn't an arbitrary concept though. There are countries where malnutrition is epidemic. In that respect, yes. there are cultures that have "better" (even if it's just because it's more plentiful) food than others.

nobody's literature or scientific advancements are "better"

wat.

 

[Malodorous Merkin]

The niggo's culture is shit, I think we can all agree on that.

 

[Cheap Sandals]

Nutritional value isn't an arbitrary concept though. There are countries where malnutrition is epidemic. In that respect, yes. there are cultures that have "better" (even if it's just because it's more plentiful) food than others.

The idea that "plentiful is good food" is called 'abundance cooking' and is popular in North America for obvious reasons. Abundance cooking doesn't manipulate or spice the food very much: a cut of the best steak, the freshest corn cobs/potatoes/vegetables and the richest dairy. That's great, but it's not objectively 'better' than 'culinary cooking' which involves manipulating ingredients to make them palatable/edible. I don't think you can say that 'steak is objectively better than bird's nest soup' because that's apples to oranges.

Cooking is an art. As long as nutritional requirements for life are met, the rest is opinion.

 

[TowinKarz]

wat.

I mean that the fact Europeans figured out how to build and navigate ships to the Americas before vice versa happened doesn't mean the Native Americans were inherently stupid. I just phrased it really really wrong. Had they not been colonized upon, in enough time, they would've figured out the scientific method, and urbanization/industrialization too.

That's another reason why the Noble Savage fallacy is just that, had N. America remained isolated from outside influence, tribal lifestyle would still have eventually ceased to exist because technological advancement would've obsoleted it, and Natives would not have stuck to the "old ways" like some kind of real-life race of elves who live in harmony with nature.. if given the chance to reduce infant mortality, extend life expectancy and grow food to abundance, EVERY society TAKES it, history has proven it.

Any sufficiently large population will produce smart people in enough abundance to make technological advancements.

 

[Some JERK]

I mean that the fact Europeans figured out how to build and navigate ships to the Americas before vice versa happened doesn't mean the Native Americans were inherently stupid. I just phrased it really really wrong.

No, but it does mean that their culture was somewhat stagnant in that respect. In fact, due to the overwhelming abundance of North America, the Native American culture changed very, very little at all for a very long period of time. Sure, they fought each other over territory, but North America is gargantuan compared to its population prior to the late 15th century. Most of European technology was tied in some way to waging war over limited resources in smaller, less hospitable geographical areas.

 

[Alberto Balsalm]

I feel that the whole "all cultures are equal, you're racist if you point out their human rights violations!" mentality is a bastardization of cultural relativism by liberal slacktivists. Shutting down all negative discussion of other cultures might make you feel like a PC little princess, but people don't magically stop being oppressed just because you don't want to hear it.

I think the point people ought to take home instead is this: it doesn't matter how abhorrent or backwards another culture may seem to you, you can't inspire positive societal change by swaggering in there and treating them like subhumans, because that's just not how people work. And I don't think I even have to say at this point which people really, really needed to have learned that.

 

[ICametoLurk]

White > All Other

 

[Cosmos]

Cultures where raped women are subjected to two finger virginity tests are inferior to cultures where they aren't. Cultures where religious, ethnic, and LGBT minorities are relentlessly persecuted- and that persecution is condoned by the government- are inferior to cultures where minorities are given equal rights (even if that's not always the case in practice). Cultures where women have acid thrown on their faces for rejecting a man's advances are inferior to cultures where that's unheard of.

Cultures that encourage and condone animal abuse (as in, animals are seen as objects and not creatures capable of feeling pain and fear) are inferior to cultures where animal abuse is strongly discouraged and penalized. Cultures where rape victims are stoned to death for being filthy whores are inferior to cultures that condemn the rapists and not the victims. Cultures that stifle individualism, innovation, freedom of thought, and criticism are inferior to cultures that celebrate them.

If anyone honestly believes that all cultures are equal, then I challenge them to live in a country like Pakistan or Iraq.

 

[Sailor_Jupiter]

Different enclaves get different results. If all RACES are equal, then BY NECESSITY all cultures aren't.

It makes me feel better to think that culture is the problem

Spoiler

(and, yes- it fits a bit better with my theology)

so we'll go with "some cultures suck." Incidentally, the Indians/Pakistanis and North/South Koreans are practically genetically identical, as races go, so that seems to lean a bit more towards the problem being one of culture. No one familiar with those countries could genuinely posit that they have the same results.

There was a big discussion of race/IQ on another page, and someone posted something saying that research blamed the differences on childhood parasites and nutrition, so that was very interesting (and relieving!)