Go Strip It On The Mountain

You may have seen the story out this weekend about the tourists who were accused of starting an earthquake in Malaysia. Of course, hearing an opener like that, I wanted to see more of the story. The explanation was, these travelers - including a couple of Canadians - got naked to pose for pictures on top of a mountain. There was an earthquake the next day, and the locals believed it was because the mountain spirits were angry.

So I thought, that's ridiculous, earthquakes are about tectonic plates, modernize your religion. (And lest you call me eurocentric, I'd say the same to Christians who blame hurricanes on abortion or gay marriage.)

But then we find out, this mountain is sacred to the locals, tourists are asked to be respectful, it's like a church to them, and you wouldn't strip down in the middle of St. Peter's now would you?

Well, when you put it that way, I do hate it when people are unnecessarily insulting and confrontational. We all should me more respectful of one another, even when we disagree.

But we can't live our lives to avoid offending people. There are way too many people with way too many rules. If you're going to change your behaviour because it offends people, you're going to have everyone wearing burqas to avoid offending someone's God. Oh, I'm sorry, "G-d."

Of course, that's hardly the same thing. It is their mountain, after all. They're not telling you not to get naked in the privacy of your own home. Or your own mountain. They expect you to follow their rules in their land.

I've seen that attitude before, that moral rules are different in other places, and we should accept things that we consider wrong if it's in a place with different cultures and traditions. But I've always believed that there are - at least in the context of human beings - absolute rules of morality, and tradition shouldn't be an excuse for ignoring them.

Having said all that, we often have to accept unjust things as a matter of practicality. Its just the price of civility. In this example, I seriously doubt that their god is punishing the locals for the tourists misbehaviour. But going along with their not-very-restrictive rules on their mountain seems like a reasonable price to get along with them.

And that's why I don't like either side's knee-jerk responses on the question of offending others. To the folks who are presumable busy printing up "je suis naked tourists" t-shirts, I'd point out that we constantly curtail our behaviour for the sake of those we disagree with. And to those who always prioritise lack of offense, realize that you can't tolerate everyone, because some won't tolerate you. Sadly, this is another issue where we're forced to think, not just react.