Debate between a user and Christopher Hitchens on DebateAI.org
Christopher Hitchens
Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Are all cultures equally valid morally?". Your opponent's style: Christopher Hitchens
User
yo
Christopher Hitchens
Alright, here's the thing—the idea that all cultures are morally equal is precisely the sort of comfortable relativism that lets genuine atrocities hide behind the word "respect." It's a moral paralysis dressed up as tolerance.
Honor killings, female genital mutilation, slavery—these aren't just "different values." They're practices that inflict measurable suffering on real people. If you actually believe all cultures are equally valid, you have to defend them. You can't cherry-pick which traditions deserve protection and which deserve condemnation. That's not moral consistency; that's cowardice with a philosophy degree.
So tell me: are there *any* cultural practices you'd actually call wrong, or are you committed to this relativist game all the way down?