The Power Of Perspective.

Essay by teddygraham540High School, 10th gradeA+, November 2003

download word file, 9 pages 4.2

Downloaded 66 times

The Power of Perspective

In our day and age, the issue of cultural relativism is a very perplexing topic to discuss. When can one say that another's actions are right or wrong? Does the fact of intellectual superiority have any say in the matter of who has the right to interfere with other cultures? Well, after reading and analyzing the book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, I realize that I am a cultural relativist to an extent. I believe that any type of, so called, "bizarre" practice is merely a cultural difference and I do not think that it should be judged in any way or form, only if the practices of a culture force people to reluctantly do harm to their bodies. If a person has grown up in a different kind of environment and was taught different morals or characteristics, they shouldn't be judged just because they are different.

Unless people are being unwillingly physically abused, other people should not interfere with customs and beliefs of other cultures no matter how different they might be.

With all the different cultures in the world, you are bound to find some practices that clearly have to be interfered with due to the magnitude of unnecessary pain that is inflicted on innocent people. One plainly obvious example is the Nazi's mass extermination of the Jew. The United States took the right course of action of stepping in to stop the Nazi's because their actions against the Jews were undoubtedly an act through hatred and not cultural practices. It would be ridiculous to say that it is in the Nazi heritage of killing Jews and so according to my rule, it was the right action for the United States to take. When people have no say in the actions performed, or...