Lately there's been one word that, more and more, sets off my alarms whenever I see it. When I'm reading an article, or having a conversation, and this word comes up I start analyzing the subject much more closely than I might have before, and I begin to question my own instinctual reactions, opinions, and beliefs about the subject. What's the word?
"Tradition"
Anybody who knows me personally and knows my politics has to know right off the bat what the most recent example of this for me has been: California's Prop 8. That's right, the supposed "re-affirmation of traditional marriage," which is a friendlier way of saying, "we can't publically admit to being religiously-motivated bigots, so we'll pretend this isn't about keeping you homos from that last piece of equality and recognition as human beings of which you just recently managed to get a tiny taste. (whew)"
And more and more often this word seems to be the excuse for all sorts of intolerance or backward thinking. The so-called "war on Christmas" exists in the minds of Christians who see their holiday being eroded by people and businesses who recognize that, shocker, everyone's not a Christian, and it might just be a nice thing to include these people in your well-wishing. Suddenly people are forced to confront the awful realization that that one time a year (which is really one of many) that they think is all about their messiah (regardless of what history has to say about the real reasons for the season) is being filtered down to include everyone! Sure, it was already filtered down to a shopping holiday decades ago, after having been filtered from prior celebrations, but that's irrelevant, because at least the name still had "Christ" in it! So what can they do? Why, they can complain about how people are trying to ruin "tradition," and be intolerant of them! And who wants to do that?
The word "tradition" seems to strike a chord with people. Most traditions are pretty innocuous, consisting of silly things like family members taking turns setting the table for dinner, playing license plate bingo on road trips, what foods are served at what holidays, etc. These sorts of traditions are fun and harmless, of course, but they also provide stability, and stability provides comfort. The average person generally tries to stay as far-removed from change as possible (some political persuasions more than others), so anything they can do to stave off change is A-OK by them.
Now this isn't anything new. Doing things the traditional way has existed for ages (duh), and it's likely hard-wired into our brains. We're pattern-seeking beasts, and when we find something that we can recognize works, we hold onto it tightly. But it still seems like lately I'm butting up against this word more and more, and it seems less and less harmless every time. Whether it's traditional marriage, traditional holidays, traditional beliefs, etc., it just seems more and more like an excuse not to include people who don't follow your way of life, or even to force that way of life upon them regardless of whether they believe it. And for me it's turning into a bright, flashing bulb of a clue that whatever follows that word may be completely worthless.
Has anyone else had trouble with this, or any other words or concepts lately? Are there any other common signs you use to pick out fruitless, lazy arguments from the genuine ones? I'd love to get some feedback on your own experiences with these types of buzzwords, or anything else that makes a blip on your skeptical radar when it comes to social and societal concepts. Or maybe you disagree with my opinion on this word and feel there's greater value to it than I'm taking into account. Let me know.
I agree 100%, that's about all that can be said. The tradition excuse has been the most harmful threat against civil rights.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the "that's just how I was raised" argument, like that recent beauty pageant runner-up. It's another excuse, and people seem to let one another off the hook over it. Racism, bigotry, absurd religious beliefs. "That's what I was raised to believe." Oh, okay, well as long as you were raised that way, you're off the hook.
ReplyDeleteWe're not robots. We're not pre-programmed. We are what we are from experiences and learning. And we can continue to experience and learn and change and improve. We can reject bullshit and move past it. I was raised certain ways, with certain concepts in place in my world, and as I grew up I began to recognize which ones didn't make sense and move past them. Everyone's capable of this. But some people are too damn lazy to try. And that's what I see when I see people talking about tradition and their upbringing as excuses. Laziness.
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