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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (105768)	7/16/2003 12:15:14 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

As long as there is strong control of information and oppressive enforcement of stringent rules, it is idle to talk about "freedom". Heck, in the West, we consider the majority to be tyrannical if it imposes too much upon minorities or the individual. If one could voluntarily enter a community, and leave it if need be, as, for example, with a monastery, then we could talk about choosing obedience as a manifestation of freedom. Otherwise, we are simply carrying sensitivity fo cultural differences to an extreme. Should we say that slavery is okay because it is a custom in various places? Were pogroms alright because they were part of the culture of Czarist Russia? Should we affirm the right of African parents to perform clitorectomies? But respect for our culture would say "no", since we are busybodies! Why should we affirm the right of native elites to oppress their countrymen, on the basis of cultural relativity, and not affirm our right to interfere, on the very good grounds that we are being true to OUR OWN culture? Whether democracy will "take" is another issue. My view is, if there is progress in that direction, it will be an improvement..........