Montaigne

Michael Montaigne wrote "Of Cannibals" and it is in The Norton Anthology of World Literature written by Ed. Martin Puchner. Montaige argued that barbarism can be best defined as whatever is not in one’s own practice.

Barbarism is defined in Dictionary.com as: “1. a brutal, coarse, or ignorant act 2. The condition of being backward, or ignorant. 3. A substandard or erroneously constructed or derived word or expression; solecism. 4. Any act or object that offends against acceptable taste” (“Dictionary.com”). I agree that different cultures may not agree on what is barbaric in relation to their own culture. According to Montaige: “I am heartily sorry that, judging their faults rightly, we should be so blind to our own” (1656). Cultures may disagree with one another on what is accepted behavior. In those case it is a matter that each culture has a different viewpoint. This is not a right or a wrong situation. In Sholapur, India, people drop a baby off of a rooftop of around fifty feet. This has been going on for seven hundred years. It is a very old practice. I do find it weird, but mostly I keep thinking how unsafe it is for an infant. The baby drooping ceremony has been around for hundreds of years. That does not make it more acceptable to market. I would not think of it. If we look at this event in relation to safety, the infant tossing is not safe at all. It is dangerous and could really hurt a baby. This is a fact and the events see not dependent on whether everyone believes or feels that way A baby could get hurt and this is not protecting the young.

Works Cited

“Barbarism”. Dictionary.com.Web.

DeMontaigne, Michel. "Of Cannibals." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third Addition ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 1651-1660. Print.

“Indian Baby Dropping Ritual at Baba Umer Durga. Huffington Post. web