Are all traditions whack and useless?

Question

Just do what you want.

TheRealPepperPotts · Accepted Answer

No, not  all  traditions are whack and useless. Everyone goes through a phase of deconstructing and challenging how they were raised, and they experiment with life outside of tradition and culture. But tradition is a huge component of stability in society, and it's an element that  maintains a bond in the face of conflict . Break or eliminate the tradition, and it's much harder, if not impossible, to restore the bond. That's why one of the first actions of a conquering nation is to ban the practice of the conquered peoples traditions. Tradition places a bond in an external place, so that when tensions arise in relationships ( as they will ), there is still security in place. A wedding ring, for example. There are some traditions that are definitely whack, though... :D

purplepoppy · Accepted Answer

No, traditions define who we are and bring communities together. As long as no ones getting hurt I think they're a good thing and the world would be a boring place without them.

hahahmm · Accepted Answer

I heard it said that traditions are like fences to keep out monsters but modern people have forgotten what all of the different fences were for and decided to start randomly tearing them down. Eventually the monsters (unintended consequences) will be out in full force and society becomes less and less stable. There's a reason why you can find countries/regions in the world where they have had the same stable family/traditional structure for thousands of years. It's not because they decided to experiment with it.

ZackBan · Accepted Answer

Traditions became traditions for a reason.
They are what worked when all else failed in the past. They are tried and tested.

I myself choose not to lead a traditional life because of a personal pathological need to always rebel agaisnt the established norm but I am mature enough to acknowledge that they do work when done right.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

Are you referring to traditions like the tradition of a mother and a father taking care of their child until it becomes self-sufficient?

NaultD · Answer

I went to Australia and the aboriginal people put warning signs all around a certain mountain.

You can cut through and stay a single night but you can't stay there. There was drawing of growing joints in people like arthritis or bulging cancer.

Today that mountain is one of the largest uranium mines in the world and people have been getting radiation poisoning if they stay there drinking the water and hunting. So there is always anthropology level of understanding traditions but take a step back to understanding the reality of what's going on.

Majority of reagans avoid eating carnivores because they end up getting parasites. My family tradition in alaska is that women can't eat bear because it makes them turn ugly and mean like a bear. The reality is bear isn't safe to eat. To make it safe you have to cook it on cast iron and once the iron is glowing you flip the meat and from there it's a well done steak cooked twice.

Don't take traditions at face value but take a step back and see how our human understanding falls into place. Only then can we make things better in the future.

RebelinSteel · Answer

National traditions are really important, separately they are just events, however combined they help define a nation. As @purplepoppy says, they define who we are and bring communities closer together. Yes some appear weird or bizarre but they are often centuries old or even older. We have a local village summer cricket match that has been going for centuries (1700’s). Each area has its own traditions that are often unique to that area.

normalice · Answer

Being useless is not an excuse to not do it. Life itself is useless, in the grand scheme of things.

Traditions help establish common ground between generations. Or at least they ccan. They can also serve to exclude and subjugate. I would argue the former is fine and the latter is not.

exitseven · Answer

Some traditions are good. My grandmother used to put on the traditional Feast of the Fishes on Christmas Eve. When my grandmother died my aunt did it. Now that my aunt has passed away my wife has been keeping the tradition alive. It is a lot of work but my family really likes it and I look forward to it.

DextroShade · Answer

I used to think that, but then I realized that traditions endured for reason that has nothing to do with God or oppressing women: societies that had strong traditions around socially-enforced monogamy, traditional gender roles, and the nuclear family outperformed societies without those things and wiped them out.

Drewtate · Answer

National, cultural and religious traditions are literally the glue that keeps, families, cultures and countries together.  You only have to look at how lost those are with out any traditions.

Snakeyes7 · Answer

I am all for trying mew things but we shouldn't say that the old way isn't viable anymore unless we know that there isn't any downsides to the new way.

I think there is a reason why we have story tropes where a tradition has lasted so long that no one remembers why it exists, stop doing it and then very quickly find out why.

Anonymous · Answer

Traditions tend not to last long enough to become traditions if there isn't some value to them.

We should be very slow to abandon long standing traditions thinking we somehow are wiser than that which was actually tested by time.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

"Traditions are like plates, they're made to be broken."  - Alf, Something's Wrong With Me

JonCobretti · Answer

Yeah everyone can do whatever they want , which also implies that traditional people can do what they want too without being judged or called a whack

JacobJordan · Answer

Most traditions are great. Some traditions were destroyed by the government for very obvious reasons

DarkLegacy · Answer

Ummm no. People here in the UK should be required to uphold our traditions and people should only celebrate our own traditions.

gorydetails · Answer

You’re posting a lot of questions, is your wife’s boyfriend over?

Knightwatch27 · Answer

Of course they aren't. Loads of them have good reasons for existing.

ggrurrllz · Answer

per se, no. but tradtion is not inherently good.

dreamstar72 · Answer

They will be in about 50 years from now

DrPepper12 · Answer

Do you mean gender roles or Christmas?

DaBiggestBird · Answer

Wrong

Are all traditions whack and useless?

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