December Blog

Cultural Relativism. Today society has created such a place that where there exists many things that are considered taboo. The article for this months connection brought light on how these kinds of things, like baby killing, really are acceptable, it just depends on wheather or not you are Eskimo. Of course, these taboos do not have to be as big as killing babies, it could be something less significant, like ear piercing.

When I read Things Fall Apart, several parts of it made me uncomfortable. Okonkwo treats his wives terribly, beating them (not to mention that he does have several wives.) This in our culture is unacceptable, Okonkwo would be in jail. While our society finds Okonkwo's lifestyle taboo, it is perfectly acceptable in his. Does this mean that one of us is right and the other wrong? Not exactly, Okonkwo's society is much more ignorant, so they don't really know any better. So, when the missionaries came and told the Africans that they were living the wrong way, were they correct? No, the Africans already had their own culture, it was just very different from that of the missionaries.

In American Society, I think most people are extremely ignorant to other cultures. I am always very suprised to meet people who have been no where. As a result, when Americans do go places they come off in a very arrogant manner. And most Americans seem to think that their way is the best way. Unfortunately this is not exactly true, most Americans are just too see things from a different perspective.