I think what he means, and I’m going to use it as a jumping off spot to my point, is that we all too frequently assume that others have the same motivations we do, when this is not true.
It’s true with different cultures and it’s true with animals. For example, polar bears, with all their fur, tend to look all teddy bear and cute, but they’re very fierce and aggressive predators. It’s common for people to mistake polar bear aggression for curiosity until the claws and the teeth come out.
With human cultures, for example, most of us here on FR view children as precious humans to be protected. In some other cultures, children are viewed as being smaller, easier to beat up, and easier to turn into slaves.
Animals and humans both have complex emotions, but it’s very dangerous to assume these emotions and motivations are the same throughout all cultures and species, although there are commonalities (self-survival, sex drive) among most.
That is why I don’t understand what is so wrong with relativity? As you pointed out so well, things really are relative.