Cultural Relativism

The issue raised about the use of one's own cultural standards and beliefs to judge another cultural is very similar to what happened in the Ibo society in "Things Fall Apart".  Both cultures were at fault for this.  The missionaries came to Africa because they believed the Africans were misguided in their cultural and religious beliefs.  The Africans in some cases reacted so harshly toward the missionaries because they too believed the other was misguided in their beliefs.  This idea of the culture one belongs in being the correct one and all of the others being wrong is still very common today.  For example, the U.S is trying to rebuild the Iraqi government because they believe the Iraqis are wrong and democracy is the only right way.  The reason Al Queda attacked the U.S and other countries around the world is because they believe their beliefs are the only right ones and they want everyone else to either believe exactly what they believe of they should not be alive at all.  This is a problem that will be around as long as humans are alive because we cannot see and fully understand why others believe the way they do and accept it and move on.
I agree with the idea of cultural relativism that people do tend to believe that their way of doing things is the right way and everyone else is wrong.  I also believe that there are shared values among all cultures.  As human beings, we all share common traits because our brains and hearts are all the same.  Murder is wrong in all countries.  Although we call the terrorists killing people murder and say that it is wrong, in their minds it is justified.  The common thought that murder is wrong is the killing of someone else without real motives; for example, killing your father because you wanted his life insurance money.  I am not saying that the terrorists are right and we are wrong, but I think that we too often judge others based on our standards and do not try to see it through their eyes.  The Palestinians believe they are promised Israel in the Bible and the Israelis believe they should get it because it was given to them after the second world war.  Every religion in the world believes that they are the only right one and all others are praising fake gods or will go to hell.  I think that as people we will never accept that we may not be the only correct ones because we are too afraid that we may be the wrong ones.  Although every idea and value is not always correct, there is often many correct ideas and values.