Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Tradition

[Original Column]

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Zero Mostel in Fiddler On The Roof. I can just picture him in my mind dancing across the stage singing that song about "Tradition." Now I, of course, have no idea how Mr. Mostel or the writers of Fiddler really felt about the subject, but I've met plenty of people who, just like the character in the play, think tradition is sacred. I even admit to feeling that way myself sometimes—like when I get misty-eyed and nostalgic about my favorite baseball team.

We are all creatures of habit, and will cling to things that are familiar, even if those things are nonsensical or conflict with other values we may have. It doesn't really matter how it all gets started. Just like an untrue rumor, if an action is repeated often enough it develops a certain credibility. With the glossy patina of age, it becomes tradition.

Sometimes it's fun to think of some of the ridiculous things in our society that are perpetuated by tradition. For example, for years we have had a whole class of people called "cheerleaders" who go to sporting events in miniature pleated skirts, with funny things called "pom-poms" on both hands. Women in our society regularly wear uncomfortable shoes with spike heels, and paint their fingernails red and their eyelids blue. And lest you think that I'm pretending to be above it all, I freely admit that as I write this I'm wearing a tie. The reason for all this nonsense is beyond me. But then again, it doesn't need a reason—it's tradition.

Along with the frivolous aspects of tradition are some pretty serious ones. Tradition, of course, plays a large and beneficial role in helping to maintain the values necessary to hold our society together. Unfortunately, it can also work the other way. It can be a convenient excuse used to justify otherwise unacceptable behavior. This is what I call the "my daddy did it, and by golly I'm going to do it too" syndrome. Among the evils it's responsible for are bigotry, racism, and those fuzzy dice people hang from their rear-view mirrors.

Those of us who are vegetarians and who love animals often find the "my daddy did it" syndrome particularly disconcerting. It is the rationalization for barbaric behavior all over the world, from caged dogs in the back of South Korean restaurants, to lobster tanks in hometown America.

Sometimes the types of behavior tradition supports are as incongruous as they are barbaric. For example, lately I've been bothered by an inconsistency in our society that goes something like this: If you belong to a church and you torture and kill cats as part of your religious ceremony, you could be in big trouble with the law. If you perform the same acts under the guise of "scientific research" not only will you be protected, but you might even get government funding to do it. Now, that doesn't seem quite right to me. And I find it especially curious in light of the fact that the First Amendment to the Constitution specifically protects freedom of religion, but doesn't say a thing about scientific research.

So what explains the difference? What carries more weight than our laws, or even our Constitution? You guessed it—tradition. In this context tradition dictates that religion involves organ music and uncomfortable clothes, while "scientific research" has something to do with white lab coats and rats living on Diet Coke. Cutting open cats is antithetical to our concept of religion, but wholly consistent with our norms for science. In the scientific venue the value or morality of such an act is not even likely to be questioned.

A meat-centered diet is in general is so economically wasteful, so unhealthy, and so downright unnatural that its continued viability must in large part be due to tradition. Repetition over thousands of years (and particularly the last fifty) has given it a credibility that we vegetarians have barely been able to put a dent in. That's too bad.

A tradition like meat eating seems so deeply rooted in our society that maybe the only way to fight it is with tradition itself. Maybe we vegetarians need to start some silly tradition of our own-like eating millet burgers on Groundhog's Day, for example. If we did that for, say, fifty years, everyone would start to think it was the natural thing to do and would follow along. Of course, people will need to hear about it. It's tough to start a good tradition without lots of publicity. If we could just get some well-known celebrities to join us that would help... Too bad Zero Mostel isn't available.


The Role of Tradition

[Re-write]

Tradition is what gets us all misty-eyed when we think about our parents and grandparents, or the history of our favorite baseball team. It's the embodiment of our values, and the glue that holds our society together through the generations. Heck, it's the stuff Zero Mostel sang about in Fiddler On The Roof! With all that going for it, tradition must be pretty wonderful, right?

Well, most of the time. Unfortunately, tradition is probably the biggest enemy to vegetarianism and many of the other sane things on this Earth! Here's why...

We are all creatures of habit and will cling to things that are familiar, even if those things are nonsensical or conflict with other values we may have. It doesn't really matter how it all gets started. Just like an untrue rumor, if an action is repeated often enough it develops a certain credibility. With the glossy patina of age, it becomes "tradition".

Think of all the ridiculous things in our society that are perpetuated by tradition. Here are some examples:

  • For years we have had a whole class of people called "cheerleaders" who go to sporting events in miniature pleated skirts, with funny things called "pompoms" on both hands.
  • Women in our society regularly wear uncomfortable shoes with spiked heels, and paint their fingernails red and their eyelids blue.
  • Men in our society wear odd paraphernalia called "ties," which appear to have no purpose other than constricting unimportant things like arteries and windpipes.

    The reason for all this nonsense is unknown. But then again, it doesn't need a reason—it's tradition.

    Along with the frivolous aspects of tradition are some pretty serious ones. It can be a convenient excuse used to justify otherwise unacceptable behavior. This is what I call the "my Daddy did it, and by golly I'm going to do it too" syndrome. Among the evils it's responsible for are bigotry, racism, sexism, and those fuzzy dice people hang from their rear-view mirrors.

    Those of us who are vegetarians and who love animals often find the "my Daddy did it" syndrome particularly disconcerting. It is the rationalization for barbaric behavior all over the world, from shark's-fin soup in Asia, to genitally mutilating girls in Africa, to Thanksgiving turkey in North America. Tradition is the excuse given when all others fail to explain why sons of fishermen must continue to fish when populations of fishes are threatened or sons of loggers must continue to log when our forests are dwindling. Tradition justifies the ritualistic torture of animals as part of "religious" ceremonies in the Caribbean, and under the auspices of "bullfights" in Spain and Mexico.

    Let's say it again, just for emphasis (yes, that would be the traditional thing to do): If behavior cannot otherwise be justified, we defend it by saying it is "tradition".

    A diet centered on meat and dairy products is so economically and environmentally wasteful, so unhealthy, and so downright unnatural that its continued viability must in large part be due to tradition. Just like bigotry, racism and sexism, repetition over the years has given it a credibility that we vegetarians have barely been able to dent. That's too bad. Tradition should never be used as a source of comfort for those who cannot otherwise defend their actions to themselves or others.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tradition, among other things in "Fiddler on the Roof" refers to Kosher diets.

Check out Tierney in the NYT and the disgusting practices he promotes of Professor Schweder at the University of Chicago (your alma matar?) re to FGM. Publish or perish. Shock and awe. This is a tenured professor getting away with this crap. Oh, so also is Springer at Princeton with his views on eugenics.

Could both be Anthropologists?

Anonymous said...

Think of all the ridiculous things in our society that are perpetuated by "tradition. Here are some examples:

For years we have had a whole class of people called "cheerleaders" who go to sporting events in miniature pleated skirts, with funny things called "pompoms" on both hands.
Women in our society regularly wear uncomfortable shoes with spiked heels, and paint their fingernails red and their eyelids blue."

Are you sure? I thought it was to make those penises get erections.