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<blockquote data-quote="SteveBrodyHead" data-source="post: 3263113" data-attributes="member: 94262">It&#039;s all too easy to feel superior in hindsight. There are still people alive today that remember racial segregation in the US, or prison terms for homosexual sex in the UK.Back to the OP, while it&#039;s natural for humans to feel their culture is normal and others are strange, the impression I get is when a culture is based heavily on a competitive philosophy, you can end up with very polarized views. The most alarming for me is when US politicians, press or military use the terms &quot;good guys&quot; and &quot;bad guys&quot;. Once you have such a polarized view of what will inevitably be a complexsituation, you have just thrown rational thought out of the window. The competitive mindset exacerbates tribalism, and exploiting tribalism is how you get people to support evil.PASmith, I agree that not all cultures are equal. I agree that the UK is a better place to be a woman thanSaudi Arabia, because here she can choose to wear a burka or a bikini in the street, without fear of corporal punishment. But, you are misrepresenting cultural relativism by stating it means we must view all cultures as being ethically equal. We all view the world through a cultural lense, and we shouldn&#039;tforget what atrocities and evil deeds have been committed, and justified through the European cultural lense (in which I include the US).It&#039;s also easy to forget that we have not always been at the vanguard of human rights, and in fact many of the countries being criticised here were more civilised than us in the past. So I don&#039;t think anyone&#039;s in a position to claim moral superiority, if you take the long view.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="SteveBrodyHead, post: 3263113, member: 94262"] It's all too easy to feel superior in hindsight. There are still people alive today that remember racial segregation in the US, or prison terms for homosexual sex in the UK. Back to the OP, while it's natural for humans to feel their culture is normal and others are strange, the impression I get is when a culture is based heavily on a competitive philosophy, you can end up with very polarized views. The most alarming for me is when US politicians, press or military use the terms "good guys" and "bad guys". Once you have such a polarized view of what will inevitably be a complex situation, you have just thrown rational thought out of the window. The competitive mindset exacerbates tribalism, and exploiting tribalism is how you get people to support evil. PASmith, I agree that not all cultures are equal. I agree that the UK is a better place to be a woman than Saudi Arabia, because here she can choose to wear a burka or a bikini in the street, without fear of corporal punishment. But, you are misrepresenting cultural relativism by stating it means we must view all cultures as being ethically equal. We all view the world through a cultural lense, and we shouldn't forget what atrocities and evil deeds have been committed, and justified through the European cultural lense (in which I include the US). It's also easy to forget that we have not always been at the vanguard of human rights, and in fact many of the countries being criticised here were more civilised than us in the past. So I don't think anyone's in a position to claim moral superiority, if you take the long view. [/QUOTE]

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