Do you think harmful cultural practices should be tolerated or restricted?

[Gurluas]

Deprives them of any thing? Wouldn’t that means jails and any short of law should be done away with?

Jail is given as punishment for someone who did something bad and hurt someone or deprived them of something.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Jail is given as punishment for someone who did something bad and hurt someone or deprived them of something.

That’s not always how laws or jail works.

[sarahtasher]

This is not nation bashing, this is not religion bashing, this is not race/ethnicity bashing. This is a discussion about cultural norms that harm people and what should or shouldn't be done about them.

Saw this on the documentary subreddit and was just curious what you guys thought about the situation and the tolerance of harmful cultural practices.



TL;DW:
- Over half of British-Pakistanis marry their first cousins, in some areas its as high as 75%. (Also prevalent among British-Bangladeshis and several other much smaller communities/populations.)
- Many are forced into these marriages by their families.
- The likelihood of their children suffering from rare genetic abnormalities/diseases is significantly increased relative to the general population, due to inbreeding.
- 1/3 of children in the UK with a rare genetic diseases are British-Pakistani, despite being only 1.5% of the population (as of a few years ago when the documentary aired).
- The incidence of cousin marriages among these communities has been increasing in recent decades, not decreasing (once again, as of the airing of the documentary).
- Politicians and even health professionals, by and large, refuse to challenge the practice for fear of being accused of racism and ruining their careers.

---
Personally I think its a bit crazy that this is tolerated to such a degree, especially given the UK's universal healthcare system and pretty robust safety nets, since its the state/tax payers that bear all the financial responsibility for this harmful cultural practice. Not to mention the miserable and debilitating lives these kids are condemned to live... So even if money was no object, which it most certainly is, the practice should still be ended, in my opinion.

What is your opinion? Whether on this or other harmful cultural practices in general?

Traduction : do you think cultural pratices ''I find harmful should be banned (cultural pratices I find nice are not bannable)

[Player Twelve]

Jail is given as punishment for someone who did something bad and hurt someone or deprived them of something.

Really? Smoking weed is doing something bad and hurting someone or depriving someone of something?

[sarahtasher]

Does the OP want to ban the praticer or the praticionners ?

Because if, random example, you want to ban ''inbreedness'', a family would have to go before the Pakistanis. They are foreigners too, so that's going to be super duper convenient and I overheard the british taxpayers pay a lot of cash for several big houses they own.

[Trollhammer]

You tell me..



See 1:25..

[Gurluas]

That’s not always how laws or jail works.

No shit sherlock, laws and jails aren't working the ideal way due to corruption.
In fact US Jails are almost more a corporate venture.

Really? Smoking weed is doing something bad and hurting someone or depriving someone of something?

As I said...I'm talking about how jails and laws in principle should work.
Smoking weed in my opinion should not be a prison offense unless you get others to do it, since it is proven as being harmful.

[DinardJoulien]

If those practices harm other people - then they should be restricted. No questions.

[Coolthulhu]

Yes, harmful practices should be banned, regardless of whether they stem from religion or not, and their perpetrators and apologists should be vehemently prosecuted. Sadly according to some people that makes you a Nazi.

[sarahtasher]

Yes, harmful practices should be banned, regardless of whether they stem from religion or not, and their perpetrators and apologists should be vehemently prosecuted. Sadly according to some people that makes you a Nazi.

It's because you are not terribly subtle with it. Like, when the actual Nazis banned ''cruel butcher pratices'' in 1933, it's ALMOST like they wanted to ban something else than the butchery techniques.

[Endus]

1> Marriage between first cousins isn't "non-Western" in the first place. Nearly half the USA allows it, for instance; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin...and_prevalence

2> Marriage between first cousins isn't even that bad. It increases the rate of genetic defect from 3-4%, to 4-7%. That's a non-zero impact, but it's not THAT egregious; https://www.popsci.com/marrying-cousins-genetics#page-3

[Aggrophobic]

The problem is that many cultures are simply ancient and don''t fit in the modern, WESTERN world.
I think we were heading in a good direction for decades, but we chose to invite the past back into our society.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out in the end. Wi out cultures and values lift theirs to the modern age, or will theirs pull ours down back to the past?

Oh but wester cultures have many practices that are to be concidred harmful as well. Drinking alcohol for instance, genital mutilation of children and so on.

[The Stormbringer]

1> Marriage between first cousins isn't "non-Western" in the first place. Nearly half the USA allows it, for instance; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin...and_prevalence

2> Marriage between first cousins isn't even that bad. It increases the rate of genetic defect from 3-4%, to 4-7%. That's a non-zero impact, but it's not THAT egregious; https://www.popsci.com/marrying-cousins-genetics#page-3

Doesn't that compound if it becomes a regular practice from generation to generation, rather than a one-off, though?

On-topic, forced marriages are disgusting and should be stomped out where ever possible. Forcing someone to live with and have sex with someone else (because let's be honest, that's what it comes down to) is vile and extremely out-dated.

[Unholyground]

Most religion based practices like those are a form or cultural retardation OP and it just takes time and education to make them go away.

[Endus]

Doesn't that compound if it becomes a regular practice from generation to generation, rather than a one-off, though?

On-topic, forced marriages are disgusting and should be stomped out where ever possible. Forcing someone to live with and have sex with someone else (because let's be honest, that's what it comes down to) is vile and extremely out-dated.

I'm not really defending it, just pointing out that it's not some foreign cultural practice, and that it's not as harmful as people seem to think (which isn't the same as totally non-harmful).

It's also not connected to my stance regarding forced marriage, where I'd say it's always harmful and should be aggressively legislated against.

[Mosotti]

Marriage between cousins is nowhere near that bad you make it sound. There are plenty of very famous, talented and intelligent people who married their cousins. Bach, Einstein or Rachmaninoff are some that come into my mind. The idea that marrying a cousin results in eighteen-legged abominations is pretty retarded.

[The Stormbringer]

I'm not really defending it, just pointing out that it's not some foreign cultural practice, and that it's not as harmful as people seem to think (which isn't the same as totally non-harmful).

It's also not connected to my stance regarding forced marriage, where I'd say it's always harmful and should be aggressively legislated against.

I wasn't saying you were, sorry! I'm just pretty sure when that sort of thing becomes systemic rather than occasional, the negatives will become more pronounced. If people have been marrying their first cousins in a family for several generations, you're going to be seeing a lot more defects and diseases.

Oh, and I wasn't trying to call you out on forced marriage, just wanted to segue into the OP.

I also don't really have an issue with first cousin marriage in general, so long as it isn't something that's happening over and over or is forced. I mean really, most people today barely see their cousins... the family 'taboo' shouldn't even matter at that point.

[Coolthulhu]

It's because you are not terribly subtle with it. Like, when the actual Nazis banned ''cruel butcher pratices'' in 1933, it's ALMOST like they wanted to ban something else than the butchery techniques.

Yes, well, I'm not going to parse my opinions looking for ways to conceal things from the thin-skinned and/or intellectually dishonest.

[oplawlz]

If there's one thing the recent sjw movement has taught us, it's that people don't actually know what "harm" means. So no, so long as those practices do not break existing laws they should not be restricted.

[Tico]

It should be tolerated/respected as long as the cultural practice doesn't violate human rights or common sense ethical norms or doesn't break the law.