History Main / CultureJustifiesAnything

* 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.
* ''{{ComicBook/Excalibur}}'' has this as a minor - but significant - plot point in the ''Trial of Captain Britain'' arc, with every version of Captain Britain being expected to uphold their society's morals - which in turn explains why Nazi versions have equal standing. This makes sense both from a practicality point of view, rather than trying to draw up a multiversal code of ethics and make people conform, and the point of view of Merlyn, who was only interested in protecting the Nexus of Realities.
* In ''ComicBook/TopTen'', after the alien porn star M'Rrgla Qualz is arrested for beheading several prostitutes to eat their pineal glands, her lawyer tries to use this as a defense, alleging that this is part of her species' life-cycle and citing some alien laws. Captain Traynor remains unconvinced and says that, alien laws notwithstanding, eating people's brains is still a crime by Neopolis' laws. That said, she's been on Earth for at least 20 years, so she'd know that it was already illegal.
* 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, and everyone was cheering for the X-Men during ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen''.

** There are also the male werewolves, who tend to "imprint" on female humans ... some of whom are ''toddlers'', or even ''babies''. The ensuing WifeHusbandry is portrayed as ''cute''. As the werewolves all belong to a specific Native American tribe, the UnfortunateImplications include some racism. Even worse, it is considered the werewolves' ''right'' to rape the women they imprinted on. One of the pack attacked a woman for rejecting him, and then started a relationship with her that began when he [[UsefulNotes/StockholmSyndrome visited her in the hospital.]]

For good, neutral and neutralish forms of cultural relativism, see instead GoodVersusGood, BothSidesHaveAPoint, and BlueAndOrangeMorality. Compare AgreeToDisagree, AppealToInherentNature, AppealToTradition, MyCountryRightOrWrong, and 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.

* 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 headdress of ostrich feathers (dyed black). Pupils from weapons cultures, where not wearing a weapon would be shameful, are -- reluctantly -- allowed their cultural weaponry. Provided they promise not to actually use it on anybody.

** The Batarians practice a very brutal form of slavery, which they justify because they view it as an inextricable part of their culture. Since slavery [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil is condemned by nearly all Council races and is illegal in Citadel space]], the batarians claim that the Council aligned races are prejudiced against them. However, this argument completely falls apart when you consider that the batarians regularly raid the colonies of other species for slaves. As a result of these tensions, the Council races have developed a distrustful attitude towards batarians, and batarians in turn retain simmering hostility and aggression towards the Council races. The tension between the batarians and humanity in particular has exploded due to a territorial dispute between the two. [[note]] The basic gist of what happened is that humans began expanding their territory after FirstContact into a sector of space that the batarians claim belonged to them despite not having any physical presence in the area. The humans pointed this out and when the batarians complained to the Citadel Council, the Council agreed with the humans, granting humanity sole colonization rights to the sector, which enraged the batarians enough to sever all ties with the Citadel and become an isolationist rogue state.[[/note]] As such, humans have developed a large amount of hostility toward batarians due to the aforementioned territorial dispute erupting into a ProxyWar between the Batarian Hegemony and the Human Systems Alliance. A conflict that is mainly characterized by various criminal groups controlled by the Batarian government with PlausibleDeniability being sent to conduct frequent raids on human colony worlds in order to acquire slaves. For most of the trilogy, the [[EnforcedColdWar Citadel Council is the only thing keeping the cold war between these two powers from escalating into a full-scale war.]]

** Like Tevinter, the batarians 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. Humans, in turn, have quite a bit of hostility toward batarians due to frequently raiding those colony worlds in order to abduct humans for slaves. At the start of the first game, the Council has been the only thing keeping the Terran Alliance from declaring war on the Batarian Hegemony.

** There are also the male werewolves, who tend to "imprint" on female humans ... some of whom are ''toddlers'', or even ''babies''. The ensuing WifeHusbandry is portrayed as ''cute''. As the werewolves all belong to a specific Native American tribe, the UnfortunateImplications include some racism. Even worse, it is considered the werewolves' ''right'' to rape the women they imprinted on. One of the pack attacked a woman for rejecting him, and then started a relationship with her that began when he [[StockholmSyndrome visited her in the hospital.]]

-->-- '''[[Blog/RaceForTheIronThrone Steven Attewell,]]''' [[http://towerofthehand.com/blog/2015/02/01-laboratory-of-politics-part-vi/ A Laboratory of Politics, Part VI]]