Can a culture be better than another?

It depends on who is asking, or rather, on the set of values held in advance of answering the question. For example, a person holding truthfulness as a supreme value would naturally tend to consider as inferior cultures with widespread corruption and a casual attitude toward personal honesty.

Because humans tend to identify with their own culture and perhaps perceive it with bias, cultural comparisons can be highly inflammatory in discussion. The issues involved are highly complex in terms of facts, stated and unstated assumptions and values, and the psychology of the participants. Even careful comparisons with limited scope can give rise to charges of racism and hate speech. The unfortunate consequence is that potential new understandings across cultures may be precluded, and clear thinking about the realities of multicultural society may be impaired.

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