The Ambivalence Of The Absolute

A short note in this respect. If you happen to be living in the 'West' (which, it seems, is nowadays everywhere else too), it is highly possible that you have been trained, asked, 'brainwashed',or even compelled to develop an attitude of uneasy ambivalence towards the Absolute. On the one hand, there is tremendous peer pressure on you not to accept any Absolutes whatsoever. If you do so, you do at your own peril : you shall immediately become a social outcast. Instead, you must resolutely oppose the notion that there are absolute truths, and rather celebrate the 'liberal' values of tolerance and co-existence. Very well. But on the other hand, you do not quite follow this advice at all times, do you? Every now and then you seem to complain that women are being oppressed in Afghanistan, that Stalinist totalitarianism is a descent into barbarism, that Pakistan is veering towards dictatorship, and that Syria is harbouring terrorists. Where are your grounds for such complaints if you oppose the idea that there cannot be any absolutes in principle? The four absolutes that women should not be oppressed anywhere, that the legacy of Stalinism must be eradicated, that dictatorships must be condemned in all places, and that terrorism must be uprooted from all countries?