I mean you can't help but have values and judge other people by them, and since you don't grow up in a vacuum chances are you're going to end up seeing people from your own culture as being (on average) better since they follow your values more closely.
I would say it is essential that you have values and judge other people by them. The way you phrased that makes it sound like having values is an undesirable trait. I also think that societies can, to an extent, be measured by their attitudes towards "basic" or "universal" human rights... while that is perhaps a Western concept, I believe it is based upon sound reasoning. Others might not agree, which is why I think it's important that people realise that there is no such thing as an objective judgement.
On a related note, I find the attitudes towards human rights in American society to be incomprehensible and savage in many areas, including their use of the death penalty. Every society has failings in human rights, and that is inevitable... but at the same time, some societies have more problems in that regard than others, and I have no problem with criticising them for it. The old rebuttal of "You can't criticise my faults because you have faults too" is the stupidest and most logically misguided argument possible (not aimed at anyone in particular, that line of reasoning just bugs the crap out of me because I hear it all the time).
Forced sterilisation can be justified in cases where it improves quality of life (hoo boy, there's a subjective area). However, in cases where it can't be medically justified, it's viewed as being easily as reprehensible as female genital mutilation - the forced sterilisation of Jewish women under the Nazi regime is commonly presented as one of the most monstrous aspects of their campaign. Consent is the issue that separates it and female genital mutilation from labiaplasty; regardless of whether that consent can really be said to be informed, it's still an important distinction, which is why plastic surgery isn't as big an issue. There's a world of difference between choosing to conform and being forced to conform.
And really, shouldn't we be working to fix the injustices we perpetuate before telling off other people for theirs?
I don't see why it's a problem to do both. Your point on the colonialist mindset is very important, though. Change should come from within a society, not without. It's okay to help change, but not to force it.
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I would say it is essential that you have values and judge other people by them. The way you phrased that makes it sound like having values is an undesirable trait. I also think that societies can, to an extent, be measured by their attitudes towards "basic" or "universal" human rights... while that is perhaps a Western concept, I believe it is based upon sound reasoning. Others might not agree, which is why I think it's important that people realise that there is no such thing as an objective judgement.
On a related note, I find the attitudes towards human rights in American society to be incomprehensible and savage in many areas, including their use of the death penalty. Every society has failings in human rights, and that is inevitable... but at the same time, some societies have more problems in that regard than others, and I have no problem with criticising them for it. The old rebuttal of "You can't criticise my faults because you have faults too" is the stupidest and most logically misguided argument possible (not aimed at anyone in particular, that line of reasoning just bugs the crap out of me because I hear it all the time).
Forced sterilisation can be justified in cases where it improves quality of life (hoo boy, there's a subjective area). However, in cases where it can't be medically justified, it's viewed as being easily as reprehensible as female genital mutilation - the forced sterilisation of Jewish women under the Nazi regime is commonly presented as one of the most monstrous aspects of their campaign. Consent is the issue that separates it and female genital mutilation from labiaplasty; regardless of whether that consent can really be said to be informed, it's still an important distinction, which is why plastic surgery isn't as big an issue. There's a world of difference between choosing to conform and being forced to conform.
And really, shouldn't we be working to fix the injustices we perpetuate before telling off other people for theirs?
I don't see why it's a problem to do both. Your point on the colonialist mindset is very important, though. Change should come from within a society, not without. It's okay to help change, but not to force it.