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Some would say that culture is a great thing. It helps define who we are; helps give us an identity in this huge world that we live in. Some would disagree with that statement. Culture is one of those things that some people can be extremely passionate about. That partially reflects upon the clear-cut lines that can be drawn in the sand over this issue. One side says that culture is important. They say that it helps define who you are. OK, but why can't you define who you are without the aide of your culture? Why should you allow a group of people to dictate how you should act? Some would argue that they shouldn't. That culture should be given a lesser role in a person's life so as to allow a more unique development of one's personality. But some say that the feeling of community is very important. Or is it? Let's look at it in this viewpoint. Your culture makes you a member of a group of people with certain traditions and ideas. Another culture has the same feeling of belonging, but hold different beliefs that conflict your culture. Who's culture is right? You see, because of this great emphasis on culture, a division is drawn between people whose culture hold different views. This creates a huge problem. Some philosophers believe in cultural ethics. What this means is that your ethical system is completely based on your culture. So what your culture believes is what is right for you and that what another culture believes is right for them, but not for you. This allows people to keep their beliefs and not have to be held accountable for supposed unethical beliefs held by other cultures. Most people would say that this is reasonable. Problem is that this usually makes it so that the belief that a universal ethic does not exist, which can be okay because usually the important ethical beliefs are held by most cultures. But not all do. This tract of thought leads to a major problem of not holding the right of being able to stop anyone from doing something if their culture says it is ethical. World War 2 is a great example of where this can be dangerous. It could be said that the German culture said it was ethical to kill Jews for being Jews. Now, since their culture says that is ethical, anyone who is a member of that culture can kill a Jew and not be held for committing an unethical act. And if you say that is wrong, then you are then denouncing cultural beliefs as a basis of ethics because you are now forcing your cultural beliefs upon another culture. And if you say that but still believe that culture defines ethics, then you are a hippocrite. So either you allow the German's to do what they do according to their culture, or you stop them and thus cut out any ethical importance that is stated by your culture. You have to choose one or the other. The only solution that I see that can possibly rectify this problem is to essentially create an uber-culture where the whole world is just one culture. That essentially makes the culture right and a universal ethic correct. But we all know that is not about to happen. But the Internet is facilitating the melding of cultures by breaking down geographical borders that kept cultures from intermixing with one another. But this is a serious problem. Many people suffer from a sort of cultural racism, and it needs to be dealt with. |