Musings on Other Cultures IV: Bride Burnings

At first, bride burnings seem abhorrent. When men ignite their wives because they feel they deserve a bigger dowry, it makes me ashamed to me male. But then, I have always felt ashamed to be male. Still, this practice should sicken us.

Or should it?

Remember, we view bride burnings through the prism of our culture. Perhaps to a man who is tossing a match on his gasoline-soaked wife, we appear as the depraved culture because our women earn only 59% of what men make. (As an example of this economic gendercide, just consider how little female flight attendants make when compared with male pilots.)

In other words, let's be tolerant of other cultures; ours is no better -- and is arguably far worse.