Universal Values
Once in a while, I come across westerners who express their horror at the state of human rights in Iran or in Middle-East in general, and then proceed to give me a speech on the values of western democracy and way of life and how we should save these societies, etc. The well-meaning ones, of course, advocate peaceful ways, and others with you-are-with-us-or-against-us mentality have more aggressive options in mind.
My reaction is usually along the lines of pointing out the miseries that the west has inflicted on the world and how it threatens the survival of our planet to show that the western way of life does not define progress. Every society should be free to make their own choices and charter their own way for progress.
This response, in the context of responding to a condescending view of a westerner with a superiority complex, makes sense. But I always feel that there is a danger of falling into the trap of cultural relativism and such. There are some fundamental and universal values according to which we can define progress, and the fact is that the Middle-Eastern societies as well as many so-called western democracies do not adhere to these values. In the western societies, maximizing profit at all cost is the dominant value, and everyone is “free” to participate in “the game”; although, by design and with few exceptions, there is a guarantee that only the privileged few will succeed in benefiting from it at the expense of the rest. Whoever does not want to “freely” participate, of course, is forced to “freely” participate!
In the eastern societies, a set of values rooted in religion and old traditions and cultures which enforces some kind of hierarchical order at the expense of freedom of thought and expression, is the dominant set of values. It also benefits the privileged few, but perhaps with a different slant.
While the dominance of western culture of greed must be opposed if we want to have a chance to survive, we ought not to give legitimacy to the despotism rooted in our eastern cultures either, just because they appear to stand up against the aggression of the west. The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend. So, it is important to recognize the universality of human rights as spelled out in the universal declaration of human rights, whether it is perceived as a western idea or not, or whether it is abused by western rulers to justify their aggression. Of course, the perception of Human Rights as a western invention is problematic, as many of the ideas are indeed rooted in the eastern culture and history, but regardless of its origin, it just needs to be highlighted and promoted to become the dominant way of life everywhere, now.
After all, it was the Persian Poet Sa’di (from my hometown of Shiraz :)) who wrote these words about 700 years ago:
Humans are limbs of the same body,
Created of the same essence.
If calamity of time inflicts pain in one,
Others will not remain at rest.
If you have no sympathy for suffering of others,
You don’t deserve to be called human.
(- Golestan-e Sa’di, Richard Francis Burton Translation, with slight modification)
My reaction is usually along the lines of pointing out the miseries that the west has inflicted on the world and how it threatens the survival of our planet to show that the western way of life does not define progress. Every society should be free to make their own choices and charter their own way for progress.
This response, in the context of responding to a condescending view of a westerner with a superiority complex, makes sense. But I always feel that there is a danger of falling into the trap of cultural relativism and such. There are some fundamental and universal values according to which we can define progress, and the fact is that the Middle-Eastern societies as well as many so-called western democracies do not adhere to these values. In the western societies, maximizing profit at all cost is the dominant value, and everyone is “free” to participate in “the game”; although, by design and with few exceptions, there is a guarantee that only the privileged few will succeed in benefiting from it at the expense of the rest. Whoever does not want to “freely” participate, of course, is forced to “freely” participate!
In the eastern societies, a set of values rooted in religion and old traditions and cultures which enforces some kind of hierarchical order at the expense of freedom of thought and expression, is the dominant set of values. It also benefits the privileged few, but perhaps with a different slant.
While the dominance of western culture of greed must be opposed if we want to have a chance to survive, we ought not to give legitimacy to the despotism rooted in our eastern cultures either, just because they appear to stand up against the aggression of the west. The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend. So, it is important to recognize the universality of human rights as spelled out in the universal declaration of human rights, whether it is perceived as a western idea or not, or whether it is abused by western rulers to justify their aggression. Of course, the perception of Human Rights as a western invention is problematic, as many of the ideas are indeed rooted in the eastern culture and history, but regardless of its origin, it just needs to be highlighted and promoted to become the dominant way of life everywhere, now.
After all, it was the Persian Poet Sa’di (from my hometown of Shiraz :)) who wrote these words about 700 years ago:
Humans are limbs of the same body,
Created of the same essence.
If calamity of time inflicts pain in one,
Others will not remain at rest.
If you have no sympathy for suffering of others,
You don’t deserve to be called human.
(- Golestan-e Sa’di, Richard Francis Burton Translation, with slight modification)
posted by Mehrdad at
8:35 AM
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