Page 113 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

80 Part 1 Foundations

As our society be-
comes more cultur-
ally diverse, different
ethical systems are
increasingly relevant
to speakers.

consequences for society are potentially disastrous. After all, the Nazis believed
they were entitled to enslave and kill Jews and other “undesirables.”
Yet, many people endorse, or say they believe in, cultural relativism, the
cultural relativism
notion that the criteria for ethical behavior in one culture should not necessar-
The notion that the cri-
ily be applied to other cultures. This was the position of the Sophist Protagoras,
teria for ethical behavior
who argued that moral laws are based on the conventions of a given society.
in one culture should not
Examples of such differences among cultures are easy to fi nd. (See the box “Cul-
necessarily be applied to
other cultures. ture and Credit” for one.) So, too, is controversy. Consider polygamy, which usu-
ally involves a man having more than one wife. In the United States, polygamy is
not only seen as immoral by most people, it is also against the law. Yet polygamy
is practiced openly in parts of Arizona and Utah by a small number of people
who believe it is consistent with their religious beliefs.
Similarly, there are cultural differences in ethical standards governing com-
munication. One such difference involves the extent to which people should be
“brutally honest” in certain situations. In collectivist cultures, “saving face” is im-
portant to the good of all society, so people are often indirect and may stretch
the bounds of truthfulness in certain situations. To do either in an individualistic
culture such as that of the United States could be regarded as unethical communi-
cation. Can either culture claim superiority over the routine communication prac-
tices of the other? Not really.
At the same time, there are limits to what most people will accept based on
cultural relativism. Customs change over time as people reexamine their ethi-

cal values. Human sacrifice was once a routine part of some religions, yet no
one today would consider such behavior ethical. Less than a century and a half

ago, a significant number of Americans believed that slavery was ethical and
gave their lives to defend the institution. Over 60 years ago, during World War II,
American citizens of Japanese ancestry were interned in “relocation” camps,
while those of German and Italian ancestry remained free