A notable quote by Charles Addams states the following: “Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.” In line with this, a custom, practice, or tradition that is normal to one culture, may cause mayhem in other cultures. In other words, what one culture accepts as socially moral may not be tolerated somewhere else. In The Elements of Moral Philosophy, author James Rachels recounts that “the outside world” had little knowledge about the Eskimos.” That was until explorers like Knud Rasmussen started bringing back bizarre stories. According to the explorers, “the Eskimos…seemed to have less regard for human life.” He noted that infanticide – the purposeful killing of a newborn child, was normal and allowable “at
…show more content…
Yet, one must wonder why this practice was accepted. Perhaps the Eskimo culture needed males to help hunt and feed the family. Or, the population was extremely low and since the females where shared by multiple men, this raised the odds of them becoming pregnant. Maybe the harsh life and climate this culture withstood was unbearable for girls, and by killing them the Eskimos though they were saving the girls from suffering. Still, what is even more astonishing is that in the 21st century, infanticide is still being practiced, and still with no social stigma attached to …show more content…
Hence, the use of these fetal-imaging technologies has helped to proliferate the problem. Once the parents know the gender of the baby, they decide whether they will keep it or will try again for a boy. Of course, this means having an abortion because the baby was a girl. Rather than waiting until the child is born, ultrasounds are helping parents make these important life or death decisions earlier in the pregnancy. Unlike the Eskimos who had to wait until the baby was born, in today’s cultures, parents terminate pregnancies as soon as they find out the gender of the fetus. Unfortunately, not only are the unborn girls suffering, at times, the wives are forced to have abortions by their husbands. Still, I agree with Rachels, it would be pompous of our society to attempt to criticize the behavior and actions of other
Yet, one must wonder why this practice was accepted. Perhaps the Eskimo culture needed males to help hunt and feed the family. Or, the population was extremely low and since the females where shared by multiple men, this raised the odds of them becoming pregnant. Maybe the harsh life and climate this culture withstood was unbearable for girls, and by killing them the Eskimos though they were saving the girls from suffering. Still, what is even more astonishing is that in the 21st century, infanticide is still being practiced, and still with no social stigma attached to …show more content…
Hence, the use of these fetal-imaging technologies has helped to proliferate the problem. Once the parents know the gender of the baby, they decide whether they will keep it or will try again for a boy. Of course, this means having an abortion because the baby was a girl. Rather than waiting until the child is born, ultrasounds are helping parents make these important life or death decisions earlier in the pregnancy. Unlike the Eskimos who had to wait until the baby was born, in today’s cultures, parents terminate pregnancies as soon as they find out the gender of the fetus. Unfortunately, not only are the unborn girls suffering, at times, the wives are forced to have abortions by their husbands. Still, I agree with Rachels, it would be pompous of our society to attempt to criticize the behavior and actions of other