| Pemalite said: On one hand you are saying we should remove harsh-penalties, which is a changing of tradition. |
Actually, while I agree with you on most points, I disagree here. We certainly should pick and choose which traditions to keep and which to abandon. We should abandon traditions that are harmful and hateful, like christian bullshit about homosexuality. But our life consists of lots of traditions, most of them far less visible, because we don't recognize them as long as we don't conflict. Speaking the same language as the people around us is a tradition (as we only do it, because our parents and ancestors did it). Wearing clothes in public is a tradition. Using money is a tradition. Making and eating certain foods is a tradition (easily recognizable, as in other regions other foods are preferred). So yeah, we can still love coffee (as this now is a traditional drink in many western societies) and reject hate on gay people. I decide to pick and choose that way. We could instead choose to establish a tradition of valuing diversity and inclusion, a tradition a lot of people and institutions actually working on (and depending on the context you already may consider it an established tradition).
And yes, traditions may change. The context may change so that once useful tradition become pointless or even harmful. New traditions are established, old abandoned or kept. But the thing is, you always will honor some traditions - even if you don't recognize them as such. And everyone including you picks and chooses which traditions to honor, which to ignore and which to abandon or to oppose.
