Artifact Six

Assogba, Yao. "Réplique - Méfions-nous des extrêmes du relativisme culturel." Université de Québec à Chicoutimi. February 18, 2004. January 20, 2007.
<http://classiques.uqac.ca/contemporains/assogba_yao/replique_relativisme_extreme/replique_relativisme_texte.html>

Prof. Assogba here mentions that "a principle cannot be neutral", that is, every belief causes actions in the real world. To assume an entirely pure view of cultural relativism as being virtuous, he notes, would be to ignore these "social implications". Since vendetta is not practiced by the majority, allowing vendetta will be against the ideal of peaceful multicultural co-habitation. He points to a court case where the defendant of Haitian origin was given a light term for selling tobacco to minors because, according to the judge, "smoking is common in that culture."

Then what solution could there be? Not being ethnocentric oftentimes goes overboard, and overdone politically-correctness places a facade over the reality. Being ethnocentric condones cultural superiority and leads to, well, we know where that leads to... The solution must then be to not go overboard with being non-ethnocentric... But how can that be, if we are so committed to ourselves?

Questions:
1) Can one stay true to himself if he is not ethnocentric?
2) Do you have a solution?
3) Could anyone accept a solution if one exists?