WHEN IN ROME...

When in Rome, do as the Romans do! - St. Ambrose

In my freshman year in college, the first chapter of the Sociology 101 class textbook I bought contained a story about a researcher who went to an Eskimo village to study the natives and their culture. The leader of the Eskimo village hosted a dinner to celebrate the researcher’s arrival, and after the meal was concluded, the host offered his wife to have sex with the researcher as a welcoming present. The researcher was offended by the host’s offer and rejected the gift with outright scorn, which in turn caused the host to become so enraged that he killed the researcher on the spot. The point of that story, that the norms and mores of people from different cultures should be understood and respected, even if shocking or different from our own, was not lost on me. I can’t say the same for a couple of recent newsmakers.

Devyani Khobragade was a diplomat from India posted at the Indian Consulate in New York City. On December 12, 2013, she was arrested by federal authorities in New York and charges of visa fraud and making false statements were filed against her. According to the charging documents, when Khobragade attempted to get a visa for a woman in India that she wanted to bring to America to work as her housekeeper, she lied about the amount of money she was intending to pay the housekeeper and submitted a fabricated employment contract to federal authorities. Then, when the visa was issued and the housekeeper came to America, Khobragade forced the housekeeper to work 90 hours per week and paid her $2.00 per hour for that work.

After the federal authorities arrested Khobragade, she was strip-searched and subjected to a body-cavity search at a police station, despite her protestation that she was a diplomat from India with full diplomatic immunity. The officers also refused to contact the Indian mission to ascertain whether Khobragade had diplomatic status or not, as they were required by law and international treaty to do.

As the above-referenced events transpired, respect for the norms and values of others were thrown out the window.

Khobragade ignored the fact that here in the United States, we demand that workers be paid a minimum wage and take seriously statements made on official government documents. The norms of Indian society might be accepting of Khobragade’s actions given her high social status and important government position, but in America, a person’s position or social status is not a justification for her behavior. Just ask Martha Stewart.

Authorities here in America ignored Indian values, too. We may strip search our female prisoners and subject them to body-cavity probes, but Indians don’t, and they consider it an appalling affront to their Nation’s sense of dignity that we would subject one of their high-level female representatives to what they believe is barbaric treatment. Don’t forget, India is a land where rape victims are frequently ostracized in society, and being sexually violated carries an extra stigma. In Indian society, a claim of authority must also be treated with absolute respect, and for our officials to summarily dismiss Khobragade’s claim of a diplomatic status amounted to an insult of the highest order.

Why did these situations occur? The answer is simple. Both sides ignored the values and norms of the other parties involved. They did not treat the customs and mores of others with the respect those values deserved.

I remember our class discussion about the irate Eskimo and the disgusted researcher. Some students argued that perhaps the Eskimo and the researcher were simply ignorant about the other’s set of values. The Professor leaned toward both parties believing that their own values took precedence. He pointed out that it’s easy to elevate one’s own values over another when that person thinks they’re more important or entitled than the other person. I think that’s why respect for others is such a healthy thing to practice. Without it, bad stuff happens, and when the dust settles, nobody wins.