Cultural Relativism and Hair Extensions

Further to my last posting,  a rant about shedding the bonds of cultural relativism in order to be able to pass judgment on the dubious values of redneck cretins and the skanks who purport to love them – as long as it means appearing on a reality show, I’ve decided I ought to reconsider my position on his hair extensions . . . because hair extensions are merely something that make me cringe, but don’t violate my sense of what’s morally or ethically right (gross violations of my aesthetic sense get a pass – but still make me cringe).

Before I started to work with the DMIS (Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity) I used to get worked up about all kinds of aesthetic crimes – backwards baseball caps – and I still have no idea why any person with the sense God gave an oyster would feel compelled to wear a baseball cap at all times – let alone a backwards one. Come to think of it, except for wearing a toque to protect one’s ears from freezing in a prairie winter, why on earth would anyone wear a hat of any kind . . . unless you’re appealing on Mad Men or some film noir . . . but I digress. Ditto, those pants that simultaneously defy gravity while showing too much butt crack to leave anything to the imagination – thank goodness guys seem to have moved on to wearing pants that wouldn’t confound Newton or Einstein. And, as Jerry Seinfeld would say, what’s the deal with people who wear shorts all year round. This is Canada, people, not the tropics!

But egregious as all these crimes against fashion and common sense might be, they don’t affect me in any material way. They don’t insult my (non aesthetic) values, or sense of justice, so I’ve decided to let it all go. It’s amazing how much easier that makes relationships with one’s children and others who ought to take my sage advice, but for some mysterious reason, refuse to.

That’s one of the joys of overcoming cultural relativism and learning to make value judgments that matter. It enabled me to let go of all of the knee-jerk reactions that used to keep me in a constant state of agitation, a hair’s breadth away from a rant.