History Main / CultureJustifiesAnything

* In the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' season 8 episode "Ritual", a female Egyptian migrant makes it clear that she fully intends to force her granddaughter to undergo female genital mutilation, as it is a cultural practice where she comes from, even though her son-in-law murdered her brother for his role in trying to arrange the clitoridectomy. The episode is very much ''not'' on the woman's side, and when she angrily denounces the prosecutor by trying to bait her into explicitly stating that American culture is "better", the prosecutor instead undercuts her stating that it's not a matter of being better, it's a matter of her committing what she knew to be a local crime. The mother of the girl who was to receive a clitoridectomy is also legally prohibited from seeing her daughter again, until she proves that she will be willing to defy her mother if she attempts to push her into allowing the clitoridectomy.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Later echoed as an IronicEcho BrickJoke, with Paladins hiding from an evil Theocracy using Belkar's old lead sheet to evade the ''detect good'' spell in the same way as Belkar used it to evade ''detect evil'', and [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0779.html whispering]] the same phrase as Belkar used to shout.

** This exchange is something of a [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagged trope,]] since despite Vriska defending her morality with "cultural differences", other trolls seem to find her actions reprehensible too -- not because of the killing per se, but because of her ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Part of Troll society is making strong alliances that can help you get ahead, and Vriska is constantly betraying those alliances. John ends up hating Vriska after seeing her interacting with other Trolls shows him that Vriska is a dangerous and unpleasant person even by the standards of Troll society.

-> ''"This raises the question -- why is the authentic culture... that of the masters and not of the slaves?"''
-->-- '''[[Blog/RaceForTheIronThrone Steven Attewell]]''', [[http://towerofthehand.com/blog/2015/02/01-laboratory-of-politics-part-vi/ A Laboratory of Politics, Part VI]]

* The protagonists of ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' are driven to preserve "very" traditional form of Judeo-Christian American culture, whatever it takes. No matter how many of their people they need to deport, execute, kidnap, torture, spy on, betray, nuke, or sell into slavery. They explicitly reject twenty-first century version of American culture, in favor of their own Retrograde culture to which they are fully committed.

* {{Series/Brimstone}} played with this. Before the rise of Christianity, all souls were judged in the afterlife by the deities they followed in life, after Christianity rose to dominance, they are all judged by the standards of the Abrahamic god. Interestingly, and unexpectedly, the series does not take sides. While it is portrayed as a bad thing that a lot of people are sent to eternal torment for failing to adhere to the tenets of a religion they did not follow and may not even have heard of, it is also portrayed as bad that countless people throughout history were able to commit atrocities (burning children alive, eating people and forcing women into prostitution at the low end of the scale) in the name of their respective deities and get away [[KarmaHoudini scot-free]], because the only beings that could judge them were the same beings that ordered the atrocities in the first place.

* ComicBook/TheInhumans of Marvel ran into this problem in the post-''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' period. The [[Comicbook/XMen X Men]] were being killed off by their mutagen cloud and any attempt to do anything about said cloud was seen as a massive affront to the Inhumans and an act that gets one compared to Hitler. Needless to say very few Inhumans are popular with readers and their books struggle to stay afloat outside of [[Comicbook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]] and [[ComicBook/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur Moon Girl]], who do not live with the main Inhumans that cause these issues.

* 'Series/BabylonFive'': In [[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E10Believers "Believers"]] an alien child needs a surgical procedure that his parents believe will detach his soul, Dr. Franklin wants to perform it anyways but Commander Sinclair has to deal with the diplomatic ramifications. While Franklin and Sinclair are debating the parents go to the other major races' ambassadors for support and the only one who respects their culture is Delenn, who would [[AlienNonInterferenceClause not want to impose her beliefs on the humans]]. [[DownerEnding In the end]] Sinclair forbids the surgery but Franklin does it anyways, and then the parents kill what they believe is an EmptyShell.

-> ''"This raises the question -- why is the authentic culture...that of the masters and not of the slaves?"''

!!Examples

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* When the Arabian Fables join Fabletown in ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'', they are told [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil they will have to free their slaves]]. The Arabian Fables object, claiming that slave ownership is part of their culture. King Cole then says that Fabletown will honor their custom of owning slaves, if they agree to [[ExcuseBoomerang honor Fabletown's custom of executing slaveholders]]. The Arabian Fables agree to free their slaves.

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* In ''FanFic/TheThreeKingsHunt'' the wizards use the preservation of their pureblood culture to excuse the ongoing genocide against the mages.
* In "Fanfic/LastRights", Lieutenant Junior Grade K'lak, son of Rokar, a Klingon in the USS ''Bajor'''s security department, [[DiscussedTrope calls bullshit on this trope]].
-->'''RALH. Tuvok:''' ''(answering Capt. Kanril Eleya's rant about the Kobali wanting to turn her dead crewmen into more Kobali)'' "I do not disagree on any particular point, Captain. But Kobali culture does consider it a great honor to be specifically selected rather than merely scavenged."\\
'''LTJG. K'lak:''' "Yes, and my species' dominant culture considers it honorable to attack unarmed passenger liners from cloak."

-->'''Loghain:''' "Of course, you'll have to continue to [[spoiler:steal and rape women]] on a regular basis to keep up your numbers, [[SarcasmMode but we should understand and respect the ancient traditions of your kind]]."
* In ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-31734/Starfox+Divided+and+Entwined.htm Divided and Entwined]]'', the pureblood wizards (led by the Death Eaters) manage to manipulate the Wizangamot into passing a series of harsh new laws to "put the Mudbloods in their place". The result is a society that closely resembles what Germany right before the Wannsee Conference must have looked like through Jewish eyes. The purebloods are shocked, horrified, and '''''absolutely outraged''''' when the Muggleborn form a [[LaResistance resistance movement]] to strike back at their oppressors. One pureblood witch honestly cannot comprehend why the "Mudbloods" would even want to strike back, since "reminding the Mudbloods that they are barely better than the beasts they were born to is a traditional part of wizarding society."

* In ''Fanfic/ADragonsFlight'' King Aegon VI Targaryen justifies his romantic love for his half sister Visenya Targaryen aka female Jon Snow by pointing out that he is a Targaryen and a Valyrian.
** The same occurs in the the fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/12759594 Lost Girl]]'': Aegon has been raised as according to Targaryen traditions but Joanna Targaryen has not, yet she comes to accept her attraction to her half brother fairly easily given their Valyrian blood. Her only objections are the waste of political capital in losing two royal matches for their Reclamation.
* In a side story for ''FanFic/TheOneToMakeItStay'', [[ConsummateLiar Lila]] defends her casually flirting with Marinette's boyfriend Luka by claiming that Italians regularly greet new people by stroking a finger down their chest while giving them bedroom eyes. Luka clearly doesn't buy her excuse, reminding her that she's not ''in'' Italy; she's in Paris, and most people who are already in a committed relationship wouldn't take too kindly to that kind of 'cultural misunderstanding'.
* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} of Creator/AAPessimal, the Guild of Assassins School is extremely sensitive to the cultural needs of its students. A [[UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}} Klatchistani]] student is allowed to grow a full beard, despite being only sixteen, and he wears a culturally approved turban in School black. A Zulu student argued the case for her to be excused the silly hat force on Assassin schoolgirls and for her to wear a full headress of ostrich feathers (dyed black). Pupils from weapons cultures, where not wearing a weapon would be shameful, are - reluctantly - allowed their cultural weapnory. Provided they promise not to actually use it on anybody.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', two men try to play the "it is our culture to own slaves" card to get Ward to help them retrieve the slave that escape to his land. They acknowledge that he doesn't want to own slaves, but what has this to do with them? He tells them that ''his'' culture dictates that there ''are no slaves'' in Hurog, thus, the woman they're after is not a slave anymore, and they can go home now. His refusal leads to a chain of events that causes him to flee his own castle. Later, he is seen meticulously observing the cultural custom of a neighbouring country to call women "Firstname" instead of "Lady Husbandsfirstname", showing that he does respect other people's cultures if they don't clash with his own. [[spoiler: Hilariously enough, the lady to whom he shows that kind of respect is the wife of one of the men who wanted to catch the escaped slave.]]
* In Shirley Jackson's short story "Literature/TheLottery", the lottery is constantly defended with such statements as "It's tradition." A particularly horrific example in that the characters use this defense not on outsiders but on ''themselves''--even they can't explain ''why'' they go through this brutal ritual every year, except for a vague assertion that it's connected to a good harvest, but it's so ingrained in their culture that they carry it out regardless.

--->'''Meyer:''' Other Twilight vampires see humans as beef or poultry, it's true. And it's a hard viewpoint to resist--after all, vampires are physically and mentally superior to the nth degree. Their life spans measure in centuries and millenniums. Human lives are so short--sort of like fruit flies that only live a day in comparison. Humans die so easily, too, in their sleep, from tripping, from a tiny heart glitch, from a virus, from getting bumped a little too hard by a car. It's sort of hard for an average vampire to take them seriously. They’re going to die soon anyway, right? (I know it might be difficult to step away from a human perspective and see it through their eyes. The question is, is it really wrong for them to see the world that way? Vampires are at the very pinnacle of the food chain. Should they feel bad about that? Or are they simply following the dictates of nature?)

* Fen in ''{{Literature/The Osmerian Conflict}}'' is of a race that is constantly seeking the best scientific outcome and self preservation. As a result, in situations that are difficult to make a decision about based on emotions, she frequently will point out that a statistical advantage is better, and emotions are things that hinder or obstruct proper decision-making. Fen takes this to the point where she willingly sacrifices people for the cause; when Sarah calls her out on it, Fen replies that is simply how things are done in her world and no one is worse off because of it.

* In ''Literature/{{Unique}}'', Clauss hates this trope with a passion. In his frequently-voiced opinion, traditional [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent werebeast culture]] consists of behaving like the worst kind of human dressed up with a veneer of wolf/lion/etc. behavior. He also points out by implication that at least in the modern age of plenty, one need sacrifice almost nothing of actual wolf behavior to be a perfectly law-abiding citizen.

* The protagonists of ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' are driven to preserve 'very' traditional form of Judeo-Christian American culture, whatever it takes. No matter how many of their people they need to deport, execute, kidnap, torture, spy on, betray, nuke, or sell into slavery. They explicitly reject twenty-first century version of American culture, in favor of their own Retrograde culture to which they are fully committed.
* Frequently discussed but usually averted in, funnily enough, ''Literature/TheCulture'' series. The Culture's Special Circumstances division, which employs many of the protagonists of the series, is explicitly dedicated to trying to ensure, by whatever means necessary, that other civilisations adopt beliefs and behaviours that the Culture considers the correct ones. The fact that this is ''also'' [[BlackAndGreyMorality not a morally impeccable thing to do]] is often highlighted, but at the end of the day it's presented as more or less the correct approach - no matter how questionable the Culture's interference can be at times, it's hard to feel that the likes of the [[Literature/ThePlayerOfGames Empire of Azad]] should be left undisturbed to brutalise its own populace.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* A sketch on ''Radio/GoodnessGraciousMe'' features an Indian woman rushing into a women's shelter crying that her husband attacked her with a knife -- and the (white) woman running the shelter feels she has to make sure that the guy's after her with a kitchen knife because he's a psycho, and not with a ceremonial knife as part of something ethnic, in which case it wouldn't be her place to interfere.

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E23ATasteOfArmageddon A Taste of Armageddon]]" featured the ''Enterprise'' crew running into a civilization of two planets that were locked in an eternal war. To limit the devastation and preserve their culture, both civilizations agreed to stop shooting real weapons and use giant, inter-linked computers to simulate shooting at each other. When the computers record "hits", it also listed who was "killed" by the "attack". Those "casualties" are then rounded up and sent to actual death chambers. The war rages, people die, but no actual damage to either world. At the episode's climax, the planet's top leader tries to trick the entire crew of the ''Enterprise'' into beaming off the ship because the computer recorded a "hit" on her. At the end of the episode, Kirk severs the radio link between the two planets, which brings a threat of a war with real weapons and real destruction coming down on both worlds. Kirk leaves the planet saying that this could be the consequence, or they could negotiate a much needed peace.* Kirk additionally uses in-universe FridgeLogic to justify his decision: a real attack wouldn't have killed any more people than one of their ongoing simulated ones, but the real one would have destroyed most of the infrastructure which would have been needed to continue fighting. One way or another, he was stopping their war.
** This is a thorny issue that frequently crops up throughout the entire Franchise/StarTrek universe, mainly because none of the writers ever precisely defined the Prime Directive and its tenets. In the broadest sense, it states that no society has the right to judge another society's values or interfere with their natural course. The room for interpretation is large enough to accommodate several small planets: DependingOnTheWriter, what constitutes "interference" varies greatly, as does which societies the Prime Directive applies to (sometimes it's just pre-warp civilizations, other times it extends to warp-capable civilizations that aren't Federation member states). The concept has been frequently Deconstructed in TNG and [=DS9=], with characters often accusing the Federation of avoiding responsibility for the problems of the larger universe by refusing to even try to affect them.

** This especially comes up a lot with Worf, who's both a Klingon warrior and a Starfleet officer (and implied to posses some sort of dual citizenship). Of particular note was the episode "Ethics", in which Worf becomes paralyzed and agrees to undertake a potentially-life-threatening procedure to restore use of his legs. The reason is that Klingon society demands a person commit ritual suicide upon becoming crippled, which Worf fully intends to do if he can't regain full functionality. The crew, understandably, responds to this with a sort of collective horror as suicide is unheard of in the Federation, with the ever-diplomatic Picard being the only person willing to play devil's advocate and reluctantly respect Worf's wishes in the matter. Riker eventually shames him into trying an experimental surgery instead by pointing out that, according to the ritual, it's supposed to be Worf's blood relative who helps him carry it out--the only one available being Worf's very young son Alexander.
*** Dr. Crusher is also guilty of it in this episode. Since her culture disapproves of suicide (and she considers the experimental surgery too risky to be an option) she's prepared to lock Worf in sickbay under constant guard for as long as it takes to get him to forswear his suicide plan. She doesn't seem to think keeping him imprisoned for possibly the rest of his life is a violation of his rights.

* The same scenario was used in ''Series/LALaw'' with an effective twist. One parent was absolutely convinced that their religious position was right; the other expressed doubts, both before and after the child's death. At trial, the believing parent was acquitted, while the doubting parent was found guilty.
** Perhaps surprisingly, this has actually been codified into law in some American states, which allow exemptions for death by child neglect if this was due to religious beliefs (such as those of Christian Scientists) which forbid using medicine rather than divine healing. Some have now been repealed after high-profile deaths due to this, and there is a push for the rest to go too.

* First series ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Aztecs" fell into this - Barbara, a 1960s history teacher, is mistaken for the reincarnation of an Aztec priest, and uses the clout this gives her to attempt to end human sacrifice. The Doctor is furious with her for doing this, as human sacrifice is their culture and changing it is imperialistic of her, to which Barbara holds that pointless murder is objectively wrong. Meanwhile, Ian has been taken to become a warrior and is being forced to fight someone to the death, which he understandably is not enthusiastic about - but he eventually accepts that it is part of the culture and kills a person. The eventual resolution is that Barbara's attempts to change the culture fail, driving them out of the time period and forcing the separation of the Doctor from [[GirlOfTheWeek his fiancée]], and the Doctor seems to hold to this trope - but admits to her that he's strangely proud of Barbara for changing the mind of one Aztec about the morality of human sacrifice.

* In the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' season 8 episode "Ritual", a female Egyptian migrant makes it clear that she fully intends to force her granddaughter to undergo female genital mutilation, as it is a cultural practice where she comes from, even though her son-in-law murdered her brother for his role in trying to arrange the clitoridectomy. The episode is very much ''not'' on the woman's side, and when she angrily denounces the prosecutor by trying to bait her into explicitly stating that American culture is "better", the prosecutor instead undercuts her stating that it's not a matter of being better, it's a matter of her committing what she knew to be a local crime.
** The mother of the girl who was to receive a clitoridectomy is also legally prohibited from seeing her daughter again, until she proves that she will be willing to defy her mother if she attempts to push her into allowing the clitoridectomy.

[[folder:{{Music}}]]
* Referenced in Music/WeirdAlYankovic's song "Weasel Stomping Day," about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a holiday devoted to stomping weasels to death]]:

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* Like Tevinter, the batarians in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' practice slavery, which they view as a cultural right and an inextricable part of their caste system. Since slavery [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil is condemned by nearly all Council races and illegal in Citadel space]], batarians have claimed prejudice and oppression, severed official ties with the Citadel, and adopted an isolationist government. As batarians regularly raid the colonies of ''other species and cultures'' for slaves, these claims are plainly absurd. Council races have developed a cool and watchful attitude towards batarians, and batarians in turn retain simmering hostility and aggression towards Council races and humanity in particular for snatching up promising colony worlds that would have otherwise been open to them.

* In ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', this is one of the massive problems in- and out-of-universe concerning the Kobali, an alien race first seen in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. They reproduce by using a virus to reanimate the dead of other sentient races and rewrite their DNA to change them into Kobali. However, ''no one'' has a choice in the matter--and any who seek to return to their former lives are just persuaded (or "[[BrainWashing persuaded]]") to rejoin the Kobali. An entire subplot involving now-Captain Harry Kim involves him [[spoiler:learning that the Kobali are using dead Vaadwaur to replenish their numbers, though the Vaadwaur want their dead back. Even more, they have the space-frozen body of ''the original Harry Kim''[[note]]''Voyager'' was quantum-duplicated in [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E21Deadlock "Deadlock"]] and the one from the "original" ''Voyager'' died in a hull breach. They replaced "their" Harry with the "other" Harry.[[/note]] locked away, and they turn him into a Kobali. By the end of that storyline, Harry sounds like [[INeedAFreakingDrink he needs a freakin' drink]].]]
* Patroklos, of ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soulcalibur V]]'', believes that his self-appointed title of 'holy warrior' ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_wars_of_religion in an era when such 'warriors' were commonplace]]) makes it okay for him to kill anybody he suspects (read: [[KnightTemplar assumes]]) of being [[DealWithTheDevil malfested]]. Notably, no one else in the game agrees, and several heroic characters try to stop him from claiming more victims- even though murder is ''technically'' legal in their culture, that doesn't mean it's ''encouraged''[[note]]indeed, one of the reasons Pyrrha is despised so much is because Iira framed her for murder[[/note]]. Patroklos himself eventually [[HeelRealization realizes]] [[spoiler:when one of his loved ones shows herself to be malfested]] that his beliefs weren't based on 'holiness' or 'righteousness' so much as arrogance and hypocrisy. [[spoiler:He's way less gung-ho about "holy" murder when someone ''he'' cares about could become a victim of it.]]
* This trope, in a somewhat roundabout way, motivates the BigBad of ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity''. [[spoiler:The BigBad's culture, the Engwithans, created the FantasyPantheon of gods that the people of the world worship and the BigBad spearheaded the missionary efforts to bring these gods -- and thus Engwithan cultural mores that went into these gods -- to the rest of the world. Several hundred years later the BigBad -- who is immortal -- has caused innumerable atrocities to keep the peoples' faith in the Engwithan gods alive.]] While the BigBad never explicitly says the word 'culture', in light of this information and his opinion on [[spoiler:the 'native' gods his pantheon replaced]] it is hard not to see his ultimate motivation as this.

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]

** [[ChaoticEvil Belkar]] [[SociopathicHero Bitterleaf]] defends his right to a cultural heritage of murder and evading the DetectEvil spell by [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0202.html claiming]] that halflings in his village carry lead sheets (which block detecting spells) to prove their manliness. Made funnier by the fact that the context makes it quite obvious that he made up this "cultural heritage" on the spot.
--->'''Miko:''' "Could you put it down for just a--"\\
'''Belkar:''' "STOP OPPRESSING MY CULTURE, YOU ETHNOCENTRIC BITCH!"
*** Later echoed as an IronicEcho BrickJoke, with Paladins hiding from an evil Theocracy using Belkar's old lead sheet to evade the "Detect Good" spell in the same way as Belkar used it to evade "Detect Evil", and [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0779.html whispering]] the same phrase as Belkar used to shout.
* Played with several times in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'', most notably in the conversations between John and Vriska. Vriska confesses that she's killed numerous people in her time, and that she's murdered one of her closest friends as well. John tries to be understanding to her explanation, but is still unnerved by the stories she tells. Finally Vriska gives up trying to rationalize her actions and insists that he '''can't''' understand, saying, ''"I know our races are completely different. And I really h8 the idea of you thinking worse of me 8ecause of this."''
** This exchange is something of a [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagged trope,]] since despite Vriska defending her morality with 'cultural differences', other trolls seem to find her actions reprehensible too - not because of the killing per se, but because of her ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Part of Troll society is making strong alliances that can help you get ahead, and Vriska is constantly betraying those alliances.
** John ends up hating Vriska after seeing her interacting with other Trolls shows him that Vriska is a dangerous and unpleasant person even by the standards of Troll society.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* Derrick Comedy's "Foreigner" (apparently from some unspecified African country) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GG4BGeVRBI wants to rape your daughter]]. Uh, is that right? Maybe he should rephrase that; he's still figuring out some of the finer points of the English language.
* The BoomerangBigot-style blog Stuff White People Like parodied this in its "[[http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/27/32-veganvegetarianism/ Vegan/Vegetarianism]]" post, encouraging non-white friends of white vegetarians to use cultural relativism to guilt-trip them and win favors in return. "When the meal is over, tell them that your mom is very embarrassed, and that in your culture rejecting food is the equivalent of spitting on someone’s grave."

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

--->'''Fry:''' "My fellow fish-monsters, far be it from me to question your stupid civilization or its dumb customs, but is squeezing each other's brains out with a giant nutcracker really going to solve anything?"
** Further subverted because the practice is only 18 years old, and the king himself refers to it as one of 'our crazy traditions' [[LawfulStupid which he is sworn to uphold.]]

** Most mages are treated with outright terror and hostility outside [[TheMagocracy Tevinter]], because of how powerful and susceptible to possession mages are. In Southern Thedas, this has led [[TheChurch The Chantry]] to form the [[MageTower Circle]] and [[AntiMagicalFaction Templar]] systems, legally compelling all mages to live in Circle towers under strict Templar supervision all their lives, or get killed by the same. This has, naturally, bred a lot of abuse within the system, and allowed many a sadistic or corrupt Templar to abuse, neglect, effectively lobotomize[[note]]"The Rite of Tranquility," which removes a mages' magic with the side effect of removing all of their emotions, leaving them an EmptyShell. Most mages, naturally, consider being made Tranquil AFateWorseThanDeath[[/note]], and in extreme cases kill their charges with little provocation or recourse. Most characters will defend the Circle and Templar systems as an unfortunate but necessary cultural practice, and/or claim the Circles and Templars are actually ''protecting'' common citizens from mages and vice-versa, since living in Circles protects mages from the common citizens that would lynch them out of fear. [[DeliberateValuesDissonance Few characters question the Chantry]] ''[[DeliberateValuesDissonance encouraging]]'' [[DeliberateValuesDissonance common citizens' fear of mages, just to present themselves as necessary protectors by imprisoning mages.]] This eventually explodes at the end of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' where a Knight Commander declaring a Rite of Annullment (where every mage in a circle is killed) for the actions of one is taken as cause for the mages of the city to rebel in fear for their lives. This starts a ''war'' between mages and templars across Thedas, and depending on the player's actions in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' can lead to the system being changed, flipped, or [[StatusQuoIsGod kept in place.]]

* ''FateGrandOrder'' has this in the form of the Yaga from the first Cosmos in the Lostbelt arc, where due to the environment (a permanent ice age that caused humanity to have to turn into human/wolf hybrids to survive), strength is valued above all and anyone who isn't seen as strong is killed or left to die. Most Yaga believe that this is the best way to go about life, and several get quite angry when the other non-Yaga characters (the protagonist, their Servants, and the members of Chaldea) criticize the futility of it. The only Yaga who starts to disagree is the Yaga that falls in with the party, Patxi, who slowly realizes over the course of the story that the Yaga way of life is horrible, especially when his ailing, elderly mother is killed to punish him and when he sees that other Yaga are perfectly willing to sell out their fellows to the [[StateSec Oprichniki]] to either save their own skins or try and gain a temporary edge.

* The ComicBook/TheInhumans of Marvel ran into this problem in the post-''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' period. The [[Comicbook/XMen X Men]] were being killed off by their mutagen cloud and any attempt to do anything about said cloud was seen as a massive affront to the Inhumans and an act that gets one compared to Hitler. Needless to say very few Inhumans are popular with readers and their books struggle to stay afloat outside of [[Comicbook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]] and [[ComicBook/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur Moon Girl]], who do not live with the main Inhumans that cause these issues.

* Like Tevinter, Batarians in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' practice slavery, which they view as a cultural right and an inextricable part of their caste system. Since slavery [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil is condemned by nearly all Council races and illegal in Citadel space]], batarians have claimed prejudice and oppression, severed official ties with the Citadel, and adopted an isolationist government. As batarians regularly raid the colonies of ''other species and cultures'' for slaves, these claims are plainly absurd. Council races have developed a cool and watchful attitude towards batarians, and batarians in turn retain simmering hostility and aggression towards Council races and humanity in particular for snatching up promising colony worlds that would have otherwise been open to them.

-->'''Turian:''' You humans are all racist!

* In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', the watchmen use this as an excuse not to try to break up the brawls that regularly erupt in dwarf bars, believing this behavior to be their "ethnic folkways". The truth is, dwarfs go wild in Ankh-Morpork specifically because they're away from the harsh discipline and austerity of dwarf mines. [[NewMeat The rookie]], himself ethnically a dwarf, if not biologically, is able to get them to stop by [[DontTellMama reminding them of their poor old white-bearded mothers back home]].

* The Inhumans of Marvel ran into this problem in the post-''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' period. The [[Comicbook/XMen X Men]] were being killed off by their mutagen cloud and any attempt to do anything about said cloud was seen as a massive affront to the Inhumans and an act that gets one compared to Hitler. Needless to say very few Inhumans are popular with readers and their books struggle to stay afloat outside of [[Comicbook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]] and [[ComicBook/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur Moon Girl]], who do not live with the main Inhumans that cause these issues.

* The Inhumans of Marvel ran into this problem in the post Secret Wars period. The [[Comicbook/XMen X Men]] were being killed off by their mutagen cloud and any attempt to do anything about said cloud was seen as a massive affront to the Inhumans and an act that gets one compared to Hitler. Needless to say very few Inhumans are popular with readers and their books struggle to stay afloat outside of [[Comicbook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]] and [[ComicBook/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur Moon Girl]], who do not live with the main Inhumans that cause these issues.

-->'''RALH. Tuvok:''' ''(answering Capt. Kanril Eleya's rant about the Kobali wanting to turn her dead crewmen into more Kobali)'' I do not disagree on any particular point, Captain. But Kobali culture does consider it a great honor to be specifically selected rather than merely scavenged.\\
'''LTJG. K'lak:''' Yes, and my species' dominant culture considers it honorable to attack unarmed passenger liners from cloak.

-->'''Loghain:''' Of course, you'll have to continue to [[spoiler:steal and rape women]] on a regular basis to keep up your numbers, [[SarcasmMode but we should understand and respect the ancient traditions of your kind]].

* In ''Fanfic/ADragonsFlight'' King Aegon VI Targaryen justifies his romantic love for his half sister Visenya Targaryen aka female Jon Snow by pointing out that he is a Targaryen and a Valyrian. The same occurs in the the fanfic Lost Girl ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/12759594]]'' Aegon has been raised as according to Targaryen traditions but Joanna Targaryen has not, yet she comes to accept her attraction to her half brother fairly easily given their Valyrian blood. Her only objections are the waste of political capital in losing two royal matches for their Reclamation.

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' the idea of doing things differently than they are done (for example, having one husband per woman), is brought up, and the main characters discuss it, but come to the conclusion that it is impossible to change such fundamental things about their culture. Likely used to lampshade the DeliberateValuesDissonance. However, the trope is averted by the heroic female characters, who think that men's GenderRarityValue (which is the reason why the culture evolved the way it did) does not justify using them for breeding like cattle.

* An episode of ''Series/ThePractice'' featured a couple taken to court because their son died and they could have saved him if they called for medical help but wouldn't because of their religion. The main characters ''did'' try to convince a jury to accept religion as an excuse to let the child die. Is there anyone surprised they lost that case? \\
The same scenario was used in ''Series/LALaw'' with an effective twist. One parent was absolutely convinced that their religious position was right; the other expressed doubts, both before and after the child's death. At trial, the believing parent was acquitted, while the doubting parent was found guilty.

--->'''Miko:''' Could you put it down for just a--\\
'''Belkar:''' STOP OPPRESSING MY CULTURE, YOU ETHNOCENTRIC BITCH!

--->'''Fry:''' My fellow fish-monsters, far be it from me to question your stupid civilization or its dumb customs, but is squeezing each other's brains out with a giant nutcracker really going to solve anything?

** This especially comes up a lot with Worf, who's both a Klingon warrior and a Starfleet officer (and implied to posses some sort of dual citizenship). Of particular note was the episode "Ethics", in which Worf becomes paralyzed and agrees to undertake a potentially-life-threatening procedure to restore use of his legs. The reason is that Klingon society demands a person commit ritual suicide upon becoming crippled, which Worf fully intends to do if he can't regain full functionality. The crew, understandably, responds to this with a sort of collective horror as suicide is unheard of in the Federation, with the ever-diplomatic Picard being the only person willing to play devil's advocate and reluctantly respect Worf's wishes in the matter.

* An episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' featured the ''Enterprise'' crew running into a civilization of two planets that were locked in an eternal war. To limit the devastation and preserve their culture, both civilizations agreed to stop shooting real weapons and use giant, inter-linked computers to simulate shooting at each other. When the computers record "hits", it also listed who was "killed" by the "attack". Those "casualties" are then rounded up and sent to actual death chambers. The war rages, people die, but no actual damage to either world. At the episode's climax, the planet's top leader tries to trick the entire crew of the ''Enterprise'' into beaming off the ship because the computer recorded a "hit" on her. At the end of the episode, Kirk severs the radio link between the two planets, which brings a threat of a war with real weapons and real destruction coming down on both worlds. Kirk leaves the planet saying that this could be the consequence, or they could negotiate a much needed peace.
** Kirk additionally uses in-universe FridgeLogic to justify his decision: a real attack wouldn't have killed any more people than one of their ongoing simulated ones, but the real one would have destroyed most of the infrastructure which would have been needed to continue fighting. One way or another, he was stopping their war.
* This is a thorny issue that frequently crops up throughout the entire Franchise/StarTrek universe, mainly because none of the writers ever precisely defined the Prime Directive and its tenets. In the broadest sense, it states that no society has the right to judge another society's values or interfere with their natural course. The room for interpretation is large enough to accommodate several small planets: DependingOnTheWriter, what constitutes "interference" varies greatly, as does which societies the Prime Directive applies to (sometimes it's just pre-warp civilizations, other times it extends to warp-capable civilizations that aren't Federation member states). The concept has been frequently Deconstructed in TNG and [=DS9=], with characters often accusing the Federation of avoiding responsibility for the problems of the larger universe by refusing to even try to affect them.

* Ishboo from the TV sketch comedy ''Series/AllThat''.

** [[ChaoticEvil Belkar]] [[SociopathicHero Bitterleaf]] defends his right to a cultural heritage of murder and evading the DetectEvil spell by claiming that halflings in his village carry lead sheets (which block detecting spells) to prove their manliness. Made funnier by the fact that the context makes it quite obvious that he made up this "cultural heritage" on the spot.

** Later echoed as an IronicEcho BrickJoke, with Paladins hiding from an evil Theocracy using Belkar's old lead sheet to evade the "Detect Good" spell in the same way as Belkar used it to evade "Detect Evil", and whispering the same phrase as Belkar used to shout.

For good, neutral and neutralish forms of cultural relativism, see instead GoodVersusGood, BothSidesHaveAPoint, and BlueAndOrangeMorality. Compare AgreeToDisagree, AppealToInherentNature, AppealToTradition, and MyCountryRightOrWrong. Contrast AgainstMyReligion, where someone uses religion to avoid taking a certain action. NobodyEverComplainedBefore is when this has apparently never caused a major disagreement that the culture remembers.

* Never really discussed in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', but the country of Xing has its numerous heirs (one from each of its ''many'' clans) compete against one another for the throne. Four Xingese characters are in Amestris to try and find a Philosopher's Stone, and clan rivalries eventually surface. Alphonse attempting to stop a fight between Mei Ling and Lanfan is met with a demand to stop "interfering in the affairs of our country." When Dr. Knox, whose house they're staying at due to Lanfan losing an arm, tries the same thing, the same excuse is instead met with TalkToTheFist and a bellow of "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE AFFAIRS OF YOUR COUNTRY, DUMBASS!"