A question on culture

[The Straight Story]

Was reading up on tattoos (see ref. thread below) from another post and saw that there were other cultures over time (Aztecs being one) that tattooed their kids. link to that: http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-culture.html

When do you feel the need to step in to someone else's life/culture and make them change such (or rather, not engage in it)? All other issues aside with that case (parents not together and such) when it comes to separation of culture/state where do you feel you should step in and call a cultural idea savage/barbaric and punish those which engage in it (not just tattoo's of course, there are many rights of passage for young teens.

A small list of rites of passage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rite_of_passage

And the earlier thread I posted that got me to thinking about all of this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7385167
(Again, their case is not really about this imho - but it was what got me to wondering about all this)

[Electric Monk]

1. ear piercing? circumcision?

Yep, it's all about cultural bias whether it's a rite of passage or simply mutilation, it would seem to me.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?