- Joined
- Jan 13, 2010
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First of all "Islam" does not treat women like cattle, some Muslim societies do. I wouldn't want to be a woman in some Orthodox Jewsih society or in a village in India either, where my chances of survival as a baby girl would have been slim anyway. Does that mean that Judaism or Hinduism treats women like cattle ? NO, and you know it.
And yes, what might seem right to one society seems wrong to another, but humilitaing and msitreating another human or animal or the planet in general (which is what the industrialised world has been doing) are recognised as universal wrongs.
On the other hand, respect and kindness toward all living things are universal rights, and all societies, Eastern and Western have that good in them, one just needs to recognise it.
I think both sides have much to learn from each other only if they decide to share what's positive in them instead of constantly and exclussively criticising the bad and the wrong.
Of course the universal wrong should be pointed out and criticised, but the right and the good should also be recognised by both sides toward one another, otherwise we will remain in perpetual conflict.
chattel, not cattle. As in property.
And my only point here was that cultural ralativism is totaally different than what you said it was. Rather than being something that allows you to condemn a foreign society while ignoring your own society's failings, it actually is precisely the opposite, excusing other societies for their immorality because, hey, they have a different culture, so who are we to say that forced marriages or female circumcision are wrong.