The Dirty Diaper

Listening to a spirited debate among outrageously smart people is always fun because two things might happen: you might learn something you didn’t know and you might hear something really stupid.

An Ivy League professor is arguing for the enactment of a law based on a current cultural debate. The subject of the debate is not important. Her reason to enact the law is:

It is tradition.

Her argument is that laws should be passed to make permanent the accepted traditions of society, especially her side of society. Her winning phrase was, “Tradition is the collective wisdom of society.”

I’m not Ivy League. I’m not even in a bowling league. This is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.

It’s also one of the scariest because it happens all the time.

Laws are beliefs and traditions. Enough people believe speeding is bad, so it is outlawed. Enough people believe in the tradition of taking the day off on major holidays, so laws are in place to protect that tradition. Our government worked so hard to get that day off that they made it mandatory for government employees. It’s an option for the retail sector. Our esteemed representatives need to get their booze somewhere on July 4th.

By definition, tradition is the passing down of elements of a particular culture from generation to generation, a culmination of trial and error, an agreed-upon event of significance that allows its supporters the gratification of routinely believing it. Most of these same supporters also use tradition as an excuse to avoid innovation or controversy, an easy rock to hide under. Tradition is the excuse when we won’t think for ourselves or change how we conduct our lives in our cultures. Not all traditions are bad, but all traditions are tried and safe. And if you have a problem with tradition, well, it is tradition. That is the way it’s always been.

Traditions are not practiced by every culture; different strokes for different folks. But they become so ingrained in the fabric that society can’t see the threads through the linen, respecting different beliefs. Supporters force them into law regardless of differing ideologies, especially problematic if the tradition is a stain on the culture to begin with.

Tradition is not a collective wisdom. Tradition is a collective ignorance.

posted by Windel  # 7:46 PM