Recently, during an interview with the BBC, U.K. Conservative Party’s newly minted leader Kemi Badenoch stated bluntly, “We cannot assume that all cultures are equally valid.” She then rattled off examples of cultures that embrace practices like child marriage and misogyny, before concluding, 

I actually think it’s extraordinary that people think that’s an unusual or controversial thing to say. Of course, not all cultures are equally valid. I don’t believe in cultural relativism. I believe in Western values, the principles that have made this country great. And I think we need to make sure that we continue to abide by those principles. 

Though a moral proclamation like that would spark outrage here in the States, patriotism in the U.K. is even more a four-letter word. This is because cultural relativism may be the only assumed absolute among the enlightened, except, of course, when it comes to critiques of the West. As Douglas Murray pointed out in his book The War on the West, it is only the Western world that is morally wrong and guilty of oppression, no matter the facts. Case in point, Badenoch is the first black woman to lead her party in Great Britain, thus making her one of the most powerful black women in the world. 

In truth, non-Western societies have their own long lists of discrimination, slavery, and mistreatment of women, children, and minorities. And the West’s history cannot be reduced to simply “white supremacy,” as many claim.

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