“Cultures are not artifacts to be put on display in a museum. They are the machinery by which ordinary people live die.” -Thomas Sowell
In this quote, Sowell does not denigrate the educational and intellectual value of learning about extinct or rare cultures. What he does denigrate, though, is the view that actually existing cultures by which people live, love, and relate to one another should be immune from criticism.
Some cultures have less effective views on the role of hygiene or the importance of a work ethic. Many cultures separate men and women’s work in destructive ways which shift too large a burden on women.
These facts should be open to critique from the outside and inside. If all cultures were really just as good as any other, why do we venerate reformers and revolutionaries?
What is so great about a Gandhi or MLK if they are just asserting their own view of “good” cultural values over the majority culture?
The fact that we do see these men as great clues us in to the politically incorrect reality: our veneration of foreign cultures goes only as far as our ethical judgments allow. We do not “celebrate the diversity” of human sacrifice, Sutti, or child prostitution. We rightly condemn these practices as immoral
This is not to say that all areas of culture are good or bad. One’s inclination to eat sausages or stuff enchiladas is clearly not on the moral plane.
Yet, we need a much more open dialogue regarding the fundamental areas of cultural variance such as work, relationship patterns, and violence. No one is aided by a patronizing endorsement of cultures which contain pathological characteristics.
