As we increasingly embrace equality and cultural diversity, any kind of judgment across cultures becomes a fine maneuver risking political incorrectness, racism, or a sense of imperial imposition. It seems that the popular notion of cultural relativism arises from the following points:
Social structures have different moral codes dictating what is acceptable and unacceptable
No social structure is capable of criticizing the moral code of another social structure
However, this logic assumes that moral truths are equivalent to social codes, and that no objective right and wrong exist. Some judgments of cultural phenomena lack social context and are examples of ignorance, but the lack of understanding of context should not preclude learning about and understanding said context. If anything, this implies that we should read more ethnography.
We feel urges to place judgment on situations we encounter not simply because we are cynical and naive. Knowledge behests judgment. Unlike data points and information, knowledge is not judgment-agnostic. I prefer to think that we judge because we seek to understand, and that the so-called cynicism of youth is what kindles the sparks of discovery, revolutions, and new horizons.
Had we never stepped out norms of what is deemed socially acceptable, politically correct, or empathetic, corporal punishment might never have been questioned, scientific discoveries may not have achieved triumphs in the fact of religion, and women might not have the vote. I think it is the very people who do not back down in defeat, who do not lose their impulses to constantly ask “Why”, that drive progress in all walks of life and history.