CulturalRelativism

Quora Answer : What is the threat of cultural relativism in the society?

Dec 4, 2018

There is no threat of cultural relativism.

What there was, was geographic separation where people from each culture were free to think that their culture was the one true way of doing things. And they didn't spend their time fussing about what everyone else thought and did.

Then we got a) cheaper global travel, so more people moved around, b) the internet, so now people can see what people in other parts of the world or other religions or in meetups of other political parties etc. are thinking and doing. And now everyone is horrified.

Cultural relativism was an attempt to help people accustom themselves to living in a world where they would be challenged by alternative beliefs.

It was a strategy to ensure peace.

Instead, the crazies who were unable to accommodate themselves to the idea that other people thought and lived differently, have decided to start flying planes into buildings, invading other countries, controlling who is allowed to use what bathroom, and generally spreading millions of defamatory lies to discredit the "other tribe".

The end result here is Rohingya. Mass genocide of "the other" by people stirred into a frenzy by fake memes on Facebook.

There is no "threat" from "cultural relativism". Cultural relativism was the safe option to handle the inevitable cognitive dissonance of discovering we were sharing the world with other people. It's "cultural absolutism" that leads to terrorist atrocities and genocidal slaughter.