Justification

Megan McArdle goes badly wrong in attempting to reconcile cultural relativism with her opposition to some forms of barbarity:

That is not to say that these cultural traist should be allowed to continue; I think [female genital mutilation] should be stamped out, because people shouldn't be able to make those kinds of permanent decisions for their children.

[Emphasis mine.] This completely begs the question of what "those kinds" of decisions are. Orthodontic braces, for example, are a permanent decision which I presume does not require stamping out.

This is not about choice, but about a culture of subjugation supported by barbaric cruelty. Miss McArdle has clumsily tried to bury this point, but it cannot be avoided.