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Originally posted by Bungleau:
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Originally posted by Memnoch:
A good example is that whole honour killing thing which happens in places like Pakistan, Turkey and so on. It may be part of someone's culture to kill their spouse, daughter or whatever if they've been unfaithful, but they certainly shouldn't take this to a place like the US or Australia as it's certainly not part of our own culture.
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The issue in my mind is where cultures collide. Someone from such a country comes here, honour killings are not tolerated. You go there... do you play by those rules? Are you up to having your wife/daughter/cousin/niece killed because of honour? Or honor?
And if someone comes "here", wherever honour killings are not tolerated, and something takes place that would justify one back home... conflict. Saying that my years of tradition don't matter over "here" doesn't make one's actions acceptible back "there". Imagine coming home for a holiday visit and being told you need four tickets there, three back... what wins?
Therein lies the challenge. And while I don't pretend to have the answer, I do understand why it's such a difficult question. The "they should know better" approach just doesn't cut it. [/QUOTE]This issue comes down to what kind of ethical approach you use - cultural relativism or ethical imperialism? Cultural relativism holds that "when in Rome you do as the Romans do" - in other words, each culture has its own values when viewed in the context of that culture. If we go to west Papua New Guinea (one of the few places in the world where cannibalism still exists) and someone offers us a leg of human, we are not required to eat it if we don't approve of cannibalism, but at the same time we would respect their right to do it within the context of their culture.
On the other hand, you could subscribe to another ethical theory, that of ethical imperialism, which can also be expressed as "when in Rome, do as the Americans do". In other words, YOUR culture is superior and to hell with other people's cultures as they're backward and unenlightened. It's our job as members of the enlightened culture to evangelize all the backward primates who stick to their old, incorrect ways.
I'm exaggerating here, and honour killings is an extreme example which involves gender inequality and murder, but you see the point. There's a middle ground that needs to be achieved, and where that middle ground will be for an individual will be will depend on their own specific values and levels of tolerance.