>I would certainly agree you don't understand them <g>. It is quite a laundry list - lumping infanticide, 'honor killing' and clitorectomy with halal banking and cows in the street <s>
>
>( I thought that last problem was an issue in Saskatchewan ... ;-)
>
>Of course, I agree with your basic thrust and I don't think there is anything wrong with a strong cultural bias.
>
>One of my favorite stories of the Raj is when Napier outlawed suttee ( widows being thrown on the funeral pyre ) and was told by the local nabobs that this was a sacred custom. He replied, "In my country we also have a custom - when men burn women we hang them. Let us each follow our customs."


I think in the west we see many of their customs (rightly or wrongly) as antiquated and barbaric. In the 16th Century we used to do defenestrations. Not anymore. Some of the moslem world still condones beheadings and terrrorism.