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  • Essay / Cultural relativity in the mind catches you and you fall

    The question of what is morally right and wrong in society is a common debate among people. The problem in solving this problem is that people have different beliefs and values ​​as to what would be considered right and wrong depending on their background and culture. The term cultural relativism describes the acceptance and understanding of these differences. The term offers an equivocal answer to the question, but as humans we are always looking for a definitive answer. Cultural relativism proposes the idea that no culture is right or wrong and that a culture cannot be judged based on its beliefs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Spirit Catches You and You Fall is a great illustration of how two cultures clash due to their differences in beliefs, customs, and values ​​and we end up understanding each other. The book follows the tribulations of a Southeast Asian family from Laos, the Lees, who settle in Merced, California, as refugees. The difficulties lie in the health problems of the youngest daughter, Lia, and in the care provided by the family and American doctors. The main source of indifference is the fact that the hospital and its employees are unfamiliar with the customs and culture of the Hmong people and instead of trying to accommodate their beliefs, they expect the Lee family assimilates to American ideals. The misunderstanding arises when Foua is at the hospital for the birth of his youngest daughter Lia. It is important to know that in Hmong culture, hospitals are not considered places of healing and there are rumors that the Hmong no longer trust anything related to modern medicine. Rumor has it that doctors eat their patients' organs. This automatically results in bias against doctors and hospitals for the Hmong. Ironically, doctors at Merced Community Medical Center ignore a Hmong custom in which a child's placenta is buried and usually disposed of automatically. MCMC doctors assume that when Hmong mothers ask for their child's placenta, they want to eat. For this reason, the hospital generally denies their request for a placenta and cremates it, disregarding its importance to its Hmong patients. Foua never asked for Lia's placenta, but this act of ignorance further foreshadows the quality of the relationship between the Hmong people and the hospital. Three months after Lia's birth, she began having seizures. Eventually, with the help of a cousin who could translate for the Lee family, Dan Murphy diagnosed Lia with epilepsy. Another example of misunderstanding is the different attitude towards what Western medicine calls epilepsy. In the United States, epilepsy is considered a disorder that must be treated. In Hmong culture it is called "quag dab peg" and to the Hmong people it means the ability to become a spiritual healer, which is a highly respected position. Lia's treating doctors, Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp, prescribe Lia numerous medications and ignore the presence of a language barrier and the fact that the family was hesitant to treat this "disease" due to cultural ideals. Ernst and Philp automatically assumed that the Lee family would comply with the action plan to improve Lia's health, and because of this, Lia's health declined. Instead of trying to figure out why the plan wasn't being followed, Ernst and Philp came to the conclusion that the Lees were either unintelligent or cheating on them, leading Lia to be..