[nootropicat]

Because they would be. Cultures aren't equal. If you disagree, then how do you feel about death penalty for homosexuality in countries like Saudi Arabia or Iran? It's their culture after all and should be respected?

Same for the Bacha-bazi custom in Afghanistan ("a custom in Afghanistan involving child sexual abuse by older men of young adolescent males or boys, called dancing boys, often involving sexual slavery and child prostitution").

The proper way to evaluate cultural practices is by looking at what society they create. Western culture is by no means perfect, but as a whole package - it's the best there is. So yes, they would be better.

[somenameforme]

I'd argue that sustainability (and then to a lesser degree, growth) is arguably the single most important value in any culture. Because the best of cultures that can't sustain itself will "lose" to the worst of cultures that can. The ideal of a culture, at least in my mind, is not one of a snapshot of hedonism or liberty, but of a long-term sustained healthy society.

Western culture already has driven fertility rates well below replacement. Alongside that we also have skyrocketing obesity rates, skyrocketing rates of mental illness and drug dependence/abuse, plummeting testosterone levels, the end of the Flynn Effect, governmental approval ratings approaching zero, and more. Our culture, in its current form, is not even remotely close to sustainable.

There has to be some meet in the middle between "Follow the ancient holy book, or die!" and "Let's hedonize ourselves out of existence." As both those extremes mostly feel like two opposite ends of a horse-shoe, to me.

[nootropicat]

>Western culture already has driven fertility rates well below replacement.

Yes but it's clear it's not 'western culture' but 'industrial economy'. It's happening everywhere. Eg. Iranian TFR dropped off a cliff since the 80s.

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/466445/Fertility-at-below-r...

Kids used to be income generators, now they're a luxury.

[somenameforme]

In the 80s Iran had a fertility rate of 6+ and was one of the fastest growing countries in the world. So fast in fact that it scared their political leadership, so they 'pulled a China', a much less well known one. [1] They started putting out massive propaganda against large families, introduced widespread birth control measures (and mandates), and so on.

And, like China, it worked too well. Their birth rate fertility rate dropped from above 6 to below 3 in less than a decade. But then it kept falling, to the point of unsustainability. They realized they'd made a huge mistake so they began efforts to try to reverse it. Yet, like China, that has generally been a complete failure.

This is one of the most insidious things about fertility rates. They're not terribly difficult to send low, even to extinction trajectory low. But getting them back up is something that nobody has yet managed to achieve.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_planning_in_Iran

[vintermann]

> Same for the Bacha-bazi custom in Afghanistan

Which apparently isn't all that old. And you know, which the Taliban hates. A lot of the evil things the Taliban did (and do!) were justified in outrage over sexual violence.

[gjsman-1000]

I’m increasingly tired of this myth that we must treat all cultures equally and agree with your point.

Sure - if we’re talking about Finland vs Iceland or something like that where people are 95% on the same page. But other cultures have the abusive practices you mention above - and worse. China used to have foot-binding. FGM is pretty common in Africa right now (no jokes about that in the latest Black Panther though).

[mbg721]

A position of radical tolerance is tactically convenient when the view that you hold is unpopular; Moral Majority crusading is convenient when it's popular.