Ethics, morals & taboos versus Unethical, immoral & cultural

“Broad tolerance in the matter of beliefs is necessarily a part of the new ethics. “
Lafcadio Hearn

Ethical vs. Unethical

Moral vs. Immoral

Taboo vs. Culture

Ethics, morals & taboos versus Unethical, immoral & cultural are terms which may be very relevant / irrelevant depending upon the following criteria:

•  who is saying it,
•  at what time,
• at which location,
•  under what reference and
• what was the scenario & context of the event.

Let us take a few example scenarios first,

1. You are in Russia and stuck with a mafia as a trade-off for some extortion money.
2. You are in Afghanistan and captured by Taliban, and will soon be executed by jihadis.
3. You are an Indian in Norway and your kids have been taken by Govt to foster care.
4. You are a Briton and in India to set up branch a branch office of your company.
5. You are in Pakistan.

Let us examine the points one by one:

Who is saying it

The writer of this article is an Indian, so he may have a biased view-point about India. It can be in favour or against – but it could be biased. How many of us can put your inner-biased-person aside and think rationally. Difficult, huh!! But it is possible when we see the entire world-picture as a whole and not in bits-n-pieces. So the person on one side of the river is always on the ‘other’ side for the person on the second side of the river. Both are right in their own sense, but are wrong in each other’s sense. So, the ethical in one culture may be unethical in another.

At what time

What is relevant today may become irrelevant tomorrow. The world has seen many such scenarios in the past. Historically, we have many such examples where truths of the past have no relevance today. For example, it was earlier a truth that the Earth is flat but later on it was proved that it is spherical. So, the earlier truth became a fallacy later on.

At which location

You do something in US and it may be reverse in India. A very famous joke goes like this: It is illegal to kiss in India but you can shit publically and in US you can’t shit publically but can kiss and express emotions. It is perfectly OK in Brazil to wear bikini but you can be hanged doing it in Saudi Arabia. So, the relevance of location of event makes it right or wrong depending upon the people who are witnessing it.

What is the reference to scenario?

Indians are known to worship Animal Gods and Hindu culture is very rich in mythological characters. It is their culture which has been passed onto the next generation in terms of various stories and holy books. The invasion of Moghuls and later British Empire could not diminish the ferocity of the tales told by the Indian forefathers. So, they are believers of occult science and sometimes, may not have ground about what they say. But, over the years their beliefs have taken the world by surprise, so many people from various countries come to India for spiritual peace.

First scenario…

The case of Norway Govt to take 2 kids of Indian parents to foster care is a perfect example to mis-understanding the cultural heritage of one country by another country. It is just because Indians keep their kids in the same bedroom till the age of 7-8 or sometimes later than this, but in Norway, as population is very less and parents may not be that attached to their off-springs, the cultural misunderstanding may arise. The writer here has assumed many things while referring to the Nordic / Norwegian culture. It is perfectly normal for parents to sleep in the same room with kids in India. But, this cultural difference has led to chaos. Very unfortunate!! So, what is taboo ‘there’ may be perfectly normal ‘here’.

Next scenario….

A British comes to India to setup a branch office of his company. He may get surprised with wide eyes and open mouth at each and every step to set up his office. The numbers of permissions and licenses to be taken are exorbitant. At every step he may need to bribe the officer, peon, or politician, to get his work done. He may get things in place by spending meager sum of money by Pound Sterling or Euro standards, but the turmoil of passing through the red-tape may kill his enthusiasm to complete his job. On the contrary, an Indian setting up his office in UK may have to churn out more money by Rupee standard, but the ease of setting things up may keep the enthusiasm on, though he may reach the stage of financial bankruptcy.

Some more scenarios….

If you are in Pakistan or any Arab / Muslim country for that matter, you are at the brim of your wits most of the time. The intensity may be more or less depending on in which country you are but the thought of being there may keep you haunted for days if you are a non-muslim. It is ethical to marry 4 times in Muslims but may be wrong in Canada or India. It is religious to wear turbans in Sikh community but may be wrong in France /Germany. It is religious to worship statues by Hindus but it may be shunned by Muslims. It is religious for a Christian or Muslim to bury the dead but it may be wrong for a Hindu to keep the body of the dead instead of burning it. In Japan, it may be immoral to show the back of the neck by females. Religious faiths drive the fanaticism. It is the tolerance which drives the peace.

Everyone feels cozy in their own shells of culture. That’s how we humans have been brought up by our forefathers. Geographic locations, availability of food, shelter, whether farm land of sea-shore based culture, etc have brought in many diversities amongst homo-sapiens-sapiens.

We need to live with the Differences, creating equilibrium in society!!!

-          Brijesh Khanna

Surat (INDIA)

mrvesta@gmail.com