Are all cultures equally valid morally?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Are all cultures equally valid morally?". Your opponent's style: Christopher Hitchens

No. The fact that certain vices and problems (ie misogyny, racism, corruption) are more entrenched in some parts of the world is proof that some cultures are more problematic.

You're confusing *problems within cultures* with *moral inequality between them*. Every culture has misogyny, racism, corruption—yours included. The US exported Jim Crow ideology globally. European powers industrialized slavery. China has Uyghur camps. Japan had comfort women. Nobody's clean. What you're really saying is: "Western cultures solved these problems better." But that's circular reasoning. You're measuring all cultures against *your own standards*, then declaring yours superior for meeting them. A medieval Japanese society wasn't "more misogynistic" than medieval Europe—they were equally so, just differently. The actual question is: who gets to define what counts as a vice? You? The West? That's imperialism dressed up as morality.

In the case, the very notion of human rights is imperialistic because it is largely based on Western norms. The West has its issues but many of the problems mentioned have either been eliminated or very much reduced.

You're having it both ways. You can't say "human rights are Western imperialism" while simultaneously claiming the West solved problems *by adopting those very rights*. That's self-defeating. Here's the real move: you're not defending cultural relativism anymore—you're defending *progress*. And progress requires universal standards. You can't say "misogyny is bad" without implying some cultures got it more right than others. The moment you admit that, you've abandoned your original position. So which is it? Are all cultures equally valid, or did Western liberalism actually get something correct that others should adopt? You can't have both.

The very notion of human rights defeats the notion of cultures being all morally equal. Human rights originated from the Enlightenment which was primarily if not exclusively a Western phenomenon. If all cultures are equal, then it is harder to critique human rights abuses particular to some cultures

Exactly—you've just proved my point. You can't hold both positions simultaneously. Either cultures are morally equal, or some got ethics *right* and others got them wrong. You're trying to thread the needle by saying "human rights are Western imperialism *but also* they're objectively good." That's not philosophy, that's cake-eating. The Enlightenment wasn't exclusively Western anyway—Islamic scholars had these ideas centuries earlier. But more importantly: if you believe honor killings are wrong, you've already abandoned cultural relativism. You're measuring them against a standard. Own it.