[HPforGrownups] Hermione's a liberal

[Troels Forchhammer]

No: HPFGUIDX 125455

At 18:29 03-03-05 +0000, you wrote:


>"finwitch" <finwitch at y...> wrote:
>
> > I think that disrespect of another
> > culture is what I find wrong in
> > what Hermione's doing.
>
>I agree Hermione should not have tried to trick the Elves into freedom
>but I don't think you should respect ALL other cultures, some cultures
>deserve no respect.

Though I suspect that you and I would mostly agree on which cultures (or
cultural aspects) we would rather not treat with respect, I do have a
problem with such a statement.

Realising that most of the population of this world would rather treat my
own culture with disdain[1], I can't help asking who should be allowed to
make the judgement? With whom would we invest the right to doom certain
cultures to disrespect? Certainly not me -- I know that.


[1] How else can one regard a culture where the majority happily pay half
their income in taxes, and then go on to pay 25% VAT on top of everything
they buy with the remaining half -- effectively paying about 60% of /all/
income in taxes . . . just to pay for various social benefits (and, yes, I
do pay up happily).

Troels