I Definitely Forgot All About This...

So as I was drying my hair and reading this article on cultural relativism my first thought was, of course, "Why can't people actually think like this?" In my opinion, people like to pretend that they're open-minded about things, but, in reality, they're not. We can talk all we want about how we accept other people's beliefs and how everyone is entitled to their own ideas but everyone knows that, deep down, they think their way is the only right way. I know I'm guilty of it. Some times I just feel like screaming when people don't see things my way. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand that different cultures have different customs and morals but in the back of my mind I can't help but think about how crazy those customs sound. For example, in Things Fall Apart, the idea of wives being a symbol of social standing is outrageous to me. In Okonkwo's culture though, that's just how things are. In Beowulf, physical strength was seen as the determining factor in whether or not someone was successful in life. In our culture, unfortunately, looks and appearance are used to determine someone's worth. However, according to the theory of cultural relativism, none of these beliefs are inherently wrong or right. Each belief is right in its respective culture and wrong when looked at through the eyes of someone looking in. I know that I certainly try to live this way but it is hard to look at different cultures without judging their beliefs at all. Cultural relativism is a great idea and I wish that it was more realistic. Unfortunately, however, I don't think that society will ever be able to completely follow the claims set out by cultural relativists.