I missed a teaching opportunity today.
In my class [that I teach], we were talking about the writings of early European explorers around 1500 and their descriptions of the Native Americans they encountered. One student accurately observed that these Europeans considered themselves to be superior to the Natives, physically, mentally, intellectually, spiritually, and culturally. The student added, however, that these European cultures were of course “not better than” the Native American cultures. And this points to the basic principle of our 21st-century American university mentality: we must be all-accepting, all-embracing, and all-equating when it comes to different cultures (our own exempted). Underlying that basic principle, however, is a subtle yet extremely powerful assumption: that we cannot at the same time proclaim one culture to be in any way “better” than another culture. Such a belief, we are told, would make us bigoted. To declare that one culture or way of life is “superior” to another would make us racist, xenophobic, closed-minded, intolerant and backward. My question is: why must we necessarily operate at such extremes? Why is the respecting of other cultures and ways of life mutually exclusive with valuing one more highly than another or proclaiming that one is, indeed, “better” than another? Can I not hypothetically express, without insulting the legacy of these peoples and without indicating that Native Americans today are somehow inherently inferior or no longer deserve to exist, that the European way of life around 1500 was indeed better? Can I not openly exclaim today that the United States of America and the basic societal structure and culture that prevail here (political correctness excepted) are better than, for instance, the Shariah Law that dominates certain Muslim countries – without automatically expressing my hatred for everything associated with Islam? Of course I can. Those who would have you believe that you have to value all cultures and points of view equally (except…you know the drill) in order for you to not be closed-minded and xenophobic are bullying you into accepting their completely relativistic worldview. It is possible to be a devout Christian and to still treat people of other religions with dignity and respect. It is possible to be a patriotic American who loves his country and who thinks its history and its culture are better than those of another country while still retaining respect for other countries and their peoples. Shockingly, it is also possible to vehemently disapprove of facets of another culture, and yet to not be overcome with an irrepressible compulsion to mercilessly eradicate from the planet the entire people who practice this culture. An ideological or philosophical preference or pronouncement of superiority does not necessarily have to be rooted in hatred and hostility. Yes, of course we should encourage tolerance, respect, mutual understanding, and we should certainly value the expression of different perspectives. In fact, the guiding principle in all interactions is that we should do our best to love our neighbors as ourselves. But this does not mean that we can’t have sensible positions that prioritize one way of life or system of belief over another because we believe it to be superior based on a given standard of evaluation. We shouldn't be afraid to espouse a particular set of beliefs as superior, as long as we do so fairly, gently, benevolently, and sensibly. We don't have to subscribe to relativism. If you are having trouble picturing the idea of relativism, imagine thousands of particles (representing different cultures) buzzing indiscriminately and without purpose through space. They are all of equal value, regardless of their shape, size, or content, and they are all similarly bereft of transcendent meaning. The particles that are buzzing through space have no referent and anyone trying to make sense of them all will be utterly confounded. A philosophy such as this, one that declares all cultures equal and dictates that we cannot assign values to cultures based on moral reasoning, lacks a foundation of principles. It lacks a structure which would help sort the particles and allow us to align them in a particular order. This leads us back to the mentality described at the beginning of this post: that we must be all-accepting, all-embracing, and all-equating. In other words, it is the notion that we shall have no foundation by which we can differentiate between right [cultures] and wrong [cultures], between good [ways of life] and bad [ways of life]. Without such a foundation to guide us, everything – including what cultures are better – becomes relative. To which worldview you subscribe becomes merely a meaningless matter of personal preference. What you live out in your own life and which culture you prefer can then be ascribed to how you feel. You do what you feel is good. You do what you feel is right. Thus, to quote Ravi Zacharias: "In some cultures they love their neighbors; in others they eat them, both on the basis of feeling. Do you have any preference?" ______________________________________________________________________________ Note: Before anyone who has a penchant for misinterpreting the things they read jumps down my throat – I am writing here about the choices we make, the beliefs we hold, the ways of life we cultivate, and the values we assign to those. I am not talking about physical characteristics with which we are born, such as our complexion or the amount of hair we possess. God has made us all in His image, and only in His eyes we do possess true, transcendent, triumphant equality.
7 Comments
Gene
11/7/2014 10:00:18 pm
Excellent post, Chris! Relativism ultimately collapses in on itself. We're told that it makes everything equally meaningful, but it only makes everything equally meaningless. Without fixed points of reference, we are utterly lost.
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Emmett
11/8/2014 02:30:38 pm
You better get a job teaching higher level college students. Your high school kids will have the "der in the headlights" look after reading that. I had to finish my first cup of coffee before I got it.
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Jordan
11/9/2014 01:38:07 am
Excellent. Needed to be said especially from you post graduate academia folks! :) well said man, and I completely agree. You are pretty rare to hold the beliefs you do in the academic company you keep. It's refreshing to hear an articulate alternative to liberals echoing each other views in increasingly radical ways.
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Tom
11/13/2014 10:38:51 am
If people had historically never believed that their way or beliefs were better than someone else's, then America wouldn't even exist haha or freedom at all for that matter. Humanity naturally strives for a better way. Where would humanity be if it had always viewed all positions or ways as equal?
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VDawg
11/20/2014 12:21:02 pm
This is frankly racist, disgusting and Eurocentric. Your uniformed point of view, is not only not accepting (and not acceptable), but fundamentally idiotic and spotted with cliches and vague vocabulary. If you feel so strongly about your own culture, please stay within it and don't embarrass the rest of us with your bigotry. It's a shame that you are a teacher.
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Chris
11/22/2014 04:48:53 am
If you think my point of view is "not accepting," then I implore you to read it again. Because if that's all you got out of this, then you have wholly missed the point.
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Chris
11/22/2014 04:55:29 am
But hey, thanks for reading. I appreciate it.
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AuthorChristopher is a student in the Ph.D. program in History at the University of North Carolina. He enjoys following sports, going to church on Sundays, and discussing contemporary issues in American society. Archives
Mai 2015
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