Is traditionalism bullshit?

[Jenny A]

I feel very conflicted about traditions. Neutral ones are often good just because they are traditions. For example our family, brings out the same decorations eats the same food and does the same things at roughly the same time on Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. The food is very good, but not necessarily the very best I could imagine or even prepare and pay for. When we have dinner, open presents, are formally thankful etc. is arbitrary more or less, but they are what sets the stage and prepares us to make those days special as opposed to just another day off work and school. What we do at Christmas reminds us of our ancestry is a good way and Easter reminds us of our family connections. Thanksgiving is very traditional and has a kind of American aspect about it without patriotism exactly. Anyway those are all good things.

National traditions create some of the same good feelings and reminders.

But some traditions are counterproductive and just plain stupid. Someone above mentioned not using video playback for game calls and that would fit. Some are racist in that they actively exclude some parts of the population. Those all really ought to go.

And then there are the ones I'm conflicted with. These are the social norms like marriage, that have worked reasonably well but far from perfectly for generations. They have a purpose. There is risk associated with tossing them out. My feeling is that we ought to move slowly when changing them.