Hotep

You are right in stressing the importance of mking preconceived notions about others cultural practices. The US and UN only speak against countries for the purpose of demeaning them so the naive global sheep ..err.. I mean people, will be LEAD to the conclusion that these cultures are barbaric. Thus any attack made (economic,cultural, political, militaristic,etc.) on them will be justified. Then under the table gains are made from exploiting them.

For instance, the US and Christian organizations exploit slavery still occurring in Sudan and while they "appear" to be rectifying the problem they are secretly continuing it and benefitting from it. The US and other Western governments and private citizens make billions of dollars from the slave infested Sudanese economy (see arabic gum trade). Although there maybe certain sanctions against it Sudan still produces over 70% of the world's arabic gum supply which is a product in a multitude of manufactured goods. Then the Christian organizations benefit by exploiting the time-worn "Islam barbarian oppresses Christian believer" propaganda. However the religious persecution propaganda is void when one considers that the only ones being enslaved are all BLACKS who are Christian, Muslims AND so-called Animists, while the government is Arab controlled.

However K-love your whole argument was weakened when you compared male circumcision to female circumcision (proper term "female gential mutilation"). You shouldn't have done that because that detracted your initial argument of "ethnocentricity" to one of "male chauvinism." Even if you did not mean it this way to the wayward reader, let's not even think about a womanist, anything else that came out of your mouth would have been void. This is why you two went down a path that was not endemic to your first point.

My personal opinions:

1. Female genital multilation is a practice that needs to end.
2. Using terms like "barbaric" and "uncivilized" are concepts at promoting Western cultural dominance on the world.
3. Any Westerner calling a non-WEsterner "uncivilized" is HYPOCRITICAL.
4. UN needs to be dismantled and the US, destroyed. (Whoah! Where did this come from?)

PEace

Solarus

"To be perfect is to lack nothing essential to the whole therefore I AM."-Solarus

"And if I have to dead you, it's only cuz I love you."- Talib Kweli