Cutural relativism, ethical subjectivism and terrorism.

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1. Faced with terrorism, a relativist cannot assert that people who live within one culture have no right to judge those who live in a different culture because they have different cultural standards and values. This is because terrorism is like murder and has no culture as such. But it could also be that what goes under the name of terrorism could not be terrorism at all. It could simply be a cultural expression. For instance, I know a culture in which during a particular festival, people, especially women, are well advised not to pass in certain parts of the town especially at night. Whatever happens to the people who flout this injunction could not be illegal or a violation of their right. And I think this is common to all cultures. If somebody tries to climb the walls of the White House, she could be easily attacked or killed by the guards and those guards are not likely to be charged with criminal offence. But what a tyrant does to the people he ...