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The United States is one of the countries in the world with more backward beliefs, with a large percentage of the population inmersed in weird beliefs associated with strange religions and ideologies.
The United States is one of the countries in the world with more backward beliefs, with a large percentage of the population inmersed in weird beliefs associated with strange religions and ideologies.
Making that kind of statement requires a baseline for "correct thought". Good luck with that.
I might find some Amish stuff strange but who am I to judge them....you don't see a lot of obese Amish with liver failure and a 3 pack a day habit.
Besides, if someone wants to believe that god doesn't exist and that playing x-box and smoking blunts all day is a good use of their time then perhaps there are some that might find their lifestyle and "beliefs" backward.
Making that kind of statement requires a baseline for "correct thought". Good luck with that.
I might find some Amish stuff strange but who am I to judge them....you don't see a lot of obese Amish with liver failure and a 3 pack a day habit.
Besides, if someone wants to believe that god doesn't exist and that playing x-box and smoking blunts all day is a good use of their time then perhaps there are some that might find their lifestyle and "beliefs" backward.
Rectifying a slipped cog, the OP here is about a particular "weird belief", and the entire discussion relates to being able to tell a weird belief from an unweird one. I.e., a baseline for correct thought. Indeed, who are we to judge them?
The OP question was "Do you believe that ignorance should persist in the world in the face of what science knows about disabilities?"
Defining "what science knows" is rather problematic, when it conflicts with what faith believes.
My question isn't about abortion nor is it about figs.
When someone in a developing nation takes a disabled child out of their home, buries them up to their necks in sand during an eclipse in the hope of curing them of their disability, am I as a citizen of the western world supposed to, nod my head and smile and "respect" their cultural beliefs, or look a them like ignorant savages who bay at the moon? Because I find it extremely difficult to respect a culture of people who do this to disabled children.
Before I could answer your question, I'd have to know whether or not any of the children were actually harmed by this action. If not, who cares? Let the parents perform whatever harmless rituals they wish. It's not up to us to change their culture.
If it's something barbaric, and the country depends on handouts from other countries, we can cut off aid to them until they mend their ways.
Oh right, that's a great idea! Cut them off, let them hurt, while they resent us for leaving them without aid. FORCE them to believe as we do at all costs!!!
Better to maintain the aid, while promoting educational efforts and improvement of basic infrastructure (like clean water projects and health projects) within the assisted country.
If the world could find solace in reason and logic, or at least in experimental truth, it would be a better place.
Many in humanity believe in stupid crap, even if shown for themselves the truth. Self delusion and hypocrisy rear their heads everywhere. The nice thing is that people who believe in superstitious crap and scoff at proven methods tend to select themselves out of the gene pool when they go too far.
There is absolutely no scientific evidence of an afterlife, or that the creator of the universe has a personal relationship with you, or that burying children during an eclipse will heal them. If you believe any of those things, you are all in exactly the same gullibility class.
My question isn't about abortion nor is it about figs.
When someone in a developing nation takes a disabled child out of their home, buries them up to their necks in sand during an eclipse in the hope of curing them of their disability, am I as a citizen of the western world supposed to, nod my head and smile and "respect" their cultural beliefs, or look a them like ignorant savages who bay at the moon? Because I find it extremely difficult to respect a culture of people who do this to disabled children.
Yeah and in Muslim countries they think its ok to stone a woman to death because she got raped. In South Africa they think if they have sex with babies it will cure them of AIDS.
But I was told in other threads by people who seemed to know what they were talking about that we should not impose our standards of what is considered 'developed' onto these people. They say these folks are doing just fine without interference from western cultures. They say these people are as developed and happy as anyone else in their own way.
When someone in a developing nation takes a disabled child out of their home, buries them up to their necks in sand during an eclipse in the hope of curing them of their disability, am I as a citizen of the western world supposed to, nod my head and smile and "respect" their cultural beliefs, or look a them like ignorant savages who bay at the moon? Because I find it extremely difficult to respect a culture of people who do this to disabled children.
I'm disabled and if this practice really endangered those kids lives I think it's bad. I don't think we have to respect it.
Although I think being a caretaker of a child with disabilities is harder in the Third World. This might make them a bit more irrational and weird than we'd, normally, behave about it. (Although I know of Americans who told my Mom my congenital condition was a punishment from God) If the burial in sand was harmless, and something the kids agreed to, than I'd have less problems with it.
Even if this turned out be benign in the larger sense, even though I value many cultures, I don't think every cultural tradition has to be respected. The British ended widow-burning in India. This was an act of cultural imperialism on their part, but in that case it was a just one.
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 06-02-2010 at 05:24 PM..
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Cut them off, let them hurt, while they resent us for leaving them without aid. FORCE them to believe as we do at all costs!!! 
