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By Root 906 0

sources of valid ethical claims. But in the age of globalization there is no such thing as an isolated culture. We are interconnected, for better or worse. The Sneetches, denizens of Nool, and Yertle’s subjects don’t live in a vacuum. As one scholar notes, “Morally, as well as physically, there is only one world, and we all have to live in it.”1 Part of our job as reasoning, judging creatures is to make do in this one world as best as we can. So to refuse to judge is to become complicit in evils that are directly and profoundly linked to each of us. If we are motivated by respect, or tolerance out of respect, then we must make evaluations and judgments about cultural practices that seem to disregard the concerns or interests of those people we are trying to respect through our tolerance. Some things shouldn’t be tolerated. But then some things should be. It’s hard to know the difference. But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we give up, it means we keep trying.

Yet some take the problems of cultural relativism to demonstrate not the need for a universal ethical system but a broader understanding of relativism, one that pertains to each individual’s moral judgments, not just cultural practices. This view is sometimes termed normative relativism.

Normative relativism says that a person’s beliefs are justified only in relation to a self-imposed framework, making ethics something akin to a matter of taste. No two people can be measured by the same principle due to the fact that each individual is different, and the rules that each adopts are specific only to them. Central to understanding normative relativism is that no single person has an incorrect view about ethical reasoning, there are only different views. Values are a matter of personal opinion or individual perspective. We hear this view given expression when someone says, “Well that may be true for you, but . . .” The idea that it is merely “true for you” implies that we each have our own view and each ought to be respected as much as every other because all views are equally “true.” This is the reaction many get when they judge a friend’s action to be faulty. For example, you confront your friend the Once-ler about his unethical business practices and he claims, “Well, you can agree with that Lorax fellow if you like, but I’d prefer to make Thneeds and money. We’re each allowed our own opinion.” To an extent he is right; we are all allowed our own opinion. But that doesn’t mean all opinions are equally supportable. After all, some people hold the opinion that Sneetches without stars are second-class citizens. This belief is not only unsupportable insofar as a measurement of moral worth will equally apply to starless and starred Sneetches but also it harms starless Sneetches in a demonstrable way. Opinions have impacts, and we can’t turn a blind eye to the effects of ignorance and moral bankruptcy.

Consider Horton the elephant. Horton both hatches an egg abandoned by a slothful, derelict parent and protects the Whos from the shortsightedness of Sour Kangaroo, the Wickershams, and all the other animals in the jungle of Nool. In each case Horton had to maintain an ethical ideal. In the case of the egg it was fidelity, being faithful “one-hundred percent” (Hatches). With respect to the Whos it was respect, the belief that “A person’s a person. No matter how small” (Horton). These are values that Horton demands others abide by as well. In fact, we as readers are disgusted by the practices of Mayzie the lazy bird and all the residents of Nool because they are violating these basic moral principles and in each case great harm would result if Horton didn’t hold firm; the egg would perish and the Whos would fall victim to Sour Kangaroo’s final solution.

If Horton had turned a blind eye, he would be as blameworthy as the others. And we should recognize that often our motivation to turn a blind eye may be more an example of our cowardice or our unwillingness to be persecuted than a principled stance for tolerance.2 Those who demand not to be judged are usually those most