e logical consequences of relativism, it is necessary to expound upon the effects of its practice. The first of these repercussions is that culture determines what is functionally right and wrong. This means that the individual has no say in the matter, and if there is a conflict between the two, the individual's ethical belief is not given any consideration. Of course, in theory this does not seem to create an enormous problem. But, let the reader consider this instance of racial segregation in the early 1900s. In this case, southern blacks were kept from attending white schools, and, sometimes, they were barred from an education entirely. In the southern culture, this practice was considered normal and right. The whites believed that blacks were ignorant slaves that did not deserve such things as proper schooling. The cultural relativist would state that this southern white culture was right in segregating the blacks. This is completely false. In fact, there were many intelligent blacks (Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, etc.), who, if they had been given the chance, could have contributed their ideas to the white school children. Because of this, it would have been functionally right to include such black students in the white schools. Thus, just because a culture deems an action right, it does not mean that the action is functionally correct for that culture.Moreover, the "relative" beliefs of certain cultures have not only caused disfunctionality for that culture alone; but, also, cultural beliefs and actions have caused devastation on a much larger scale. An example that comes to mind is the quest to gain back the Holy Land, Jerusalem. In this case, thousands of Muslims were killed because the Christians believed that Jerusalem was sacred ground. The relativist might say that each culture was doing what was right; but when such chaos is the final outcome, relativism seems much less practical.The second consequence of practicing ...
