Cultural Relativism

This article was very intriguing. I enjoyed reading it and learning about the challenge of cultural relativism. I belief that everyone has their own moral codes and in a individual society only one is seemed to morally correct. I enjoyed learning that cultural relativism and how it is basically a theory about the nature of morality. I also believe cultures having different moral codes is what makes other cultures so intriguing to learn and read about. I agree with the statement that, "We would have to stop condemning other societies merely because they are "different." I agree with this statement because I think that as a society we should not judge or condemn other societies because their morals is what makes them a society and a culture. I feel like this topic is very contradictory because everyone says that everyone and different societies included should be different, but then when people are different, they get judged and people look down upon them because they are not like them. Also, I agree that most cultures do in fact have some morals in common. This article reminds me a great deal about Things Fall Apart. I immediately made the connection because the article is about how different societies have different moral codes just as the missionaries in Things Fall Apart believe that the tribe should learn their religion and their moral codes. In Things Fall Apart, the missionaries wanted the tribe to convert and become what the missionaries thought that everyone should be. I believe that becoming what others want you to is completely wrong but unfortunately not everyone thinks so. For the most part I agree with the theory of Cultural Relativism. "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism." An article wrote by James Rachels in 1993.

Brutality in Prison and Boarding Schools?

Within the American prison system, many of the inmates are treated badly and some are even killed. In multiple states there have been cases where inmates have been shot or brutally beaten. Within the book The Power of One, Peekay, the main character, is treated harshly when he goes to attend boarding school. Peekay is constantly tortured by the other boys and one of the reasons may be because he was the only English speaker and the other boys saw that as a threat. Peekay was both physical and verbally abused, and he was called derogatory names. Like one inmate in California who only had a three minor felonies in his life and was sentenced to 25 years in jail. The only reason that he stole the things he did in the first place was because he was hungry and didn't have any money. This man never shot or hurt anyone and still has to do 25 years. I strongly disagree with this and I think that this is terrible because this many never hurt anyone, he just stole food because he was hungry. I think that California's "three strikes" law is ridiculous because even for minor offenses a man can go to jail for longer than he needs to. Another example is that some prison guards make prisoners rape other prisoners for extra food. This is absolutely terrible and needs to be stopped and hopefully it is because it is already enough to have to be in prison and then to be physically harassed and raped just makes the jail experience that much worse. I hope the guards who make the prisoners do this have to jail time and find out what it is like in the jail cell to begin with so they can see how they physically and emotionally hurt people. The above facts about the brutality the American prison system came from "Inside the US prison system-frame-ups, brutality,and murder."  An article wrote by Kate Randall in July 1999.