Of course, some cultural practices are vastly superior to others. After all, that's how and why we make choices about values - as examples, compare:

* in Society A, women are subordinated, confined, with far fewer rights than men - while in society B, women have formal equality of rights;

* in Society A, gays are executed or thrown off roof-tops - while in Society B, they have equal rights with non-homosexuals;

* in Society A, nobody are executed for renouncing their religion, or for professing no religion - while in Society B, people are free to believe whatever they like;

* in Society A, 'discussion' is restricted to citing 'authorities', those with power, and thereby merely echoing those in power - while in Society B, discussion can be lively, argumentative, offensive, passionate, and from people's own convictions, not someone else's;

* in Society A, women can be stoned to death for supposedly committing adultery - while in Society B, women, and men, are legally free to commit adultery - and take the social consequences.

And so on. Once upon a time, we were all cannibals, butchering neighbouring groups if we could, raping their women. In some societies, women are still being burned as witches: young women are butchered by their families on suspicion of bringing shame onto them. [How come it is usually women who cop the crap from some of those crap societies ?]

The problem with suggesting that not all cultural practices are of equal value is that we then have to analyse and make judgements: we, ourselves, out of our own heads and experiences - not wait for some 'authority' to tell us what to think. Ah, but that can take courage, it carries risks, one could be wrong. Yes, indeed, but that's how societies move forward.

Joe

Excellent post by Loudmouth, who might appreciate (as I did) the five minute response by Pat Condell to a Moslem "We Hate Your Democracy" riot in the UK. It's at https://dotsub.com/media/72457cbc-fe18-4053-ae3f-6c7639cf4e79/embed/

Sorry, I've accidentally repeated myself over Pat Condell