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I think title sums it up pretty well. is it normal that I really don't care to preserve or continue any traditions or cultures? I don't see the point of doing so.
Society tells me that this is weird, but I thought actual people may say differently?
I actually like that people ask questions like this on IIN. No offence to anyone else but this is a proper question and I'm looking forward to seeing what people say.
To answer it, my culture is very important to me but to give some context to that, I think it's because my culture is being overwritten by another country's culture (I don't need to say who - I moan about it often enough already).
When I lived in a pre-internet world and the only way culture arrived was in person or by television (that was mostly made in my own country, even region), I don't think I cared as much about my culture. It was just the habit of the local people and it would always be the way it was. Except it isn't. I'm not old but I've seen a radical shift in the way people talk and act and think. The place I was born has now gone and I can never go back, despite it being geographically exactly where I am now. I miss it. If I'm being honest, I miss it like hell.
There's no reason why my culture or language should have been preserved. There are plenty more dead languages than living ones. Being practical, things move on for a reason (not always a good reason, but a reason). Perhaps you are just a very practical person and less nostalgic or sentimental than I am. It doesn't make either of us right or wrong. It just makes us different. There's no harm in that.
I think it's important to get a balance. I don't think we should stay the same just for the sake of keeping with tradition. Culture and society are always changing, and it seems foolish to me to act like that's terrible and to say we should stop any form of change. However, I also think it's really important to know what came before us and to remember it. I suppose I really like the idea of certain traditions and certain aspects of culture staying the same, but change can be great. I would dislike it if we never made traditions, and everything had to change all the time. I like the happy medium.
I'm not trying to say we should do away with things simply so we don't do something that could be conveyed as tradition. I just can't see the point to traditions that serve no purpose.
It happens a lot with the cultures that are on their way to extinction. A whole group of people will fight to "preserve the culture", rejecting technology, changes in thought, or really anything different.
I find traditions very boring and I have since I was a kid. Holidays and just generally the way everything had to be done the same way every time, every year, just the same, with nobody interested in other ideas was mind numbingly boring. Sure, I hoped Santa was real, but I was annoyed and suspicious when my own parents wouldn't answer the question, and they acted like kids wanting good presents like toys was evil, but that good kids wanted to spend the 3 days at church at Christmas, and that was the important part. I got quite cynical when I found out the part of Christmas they wanted us to believe was the boring, churchy part, but that the candy and gifts from Santa were fake. I saw no value in going through the motion of holidays when I found out it was all fake and more bother than it was worth. I crave changing dates for celebrations, like moving Christmas to January or February. I think we should only buy gifts for kids and not adults unless it's small stuff. We actually do this last part now, but when I was a kid, we had to spend our tiny allowances on birthday gifts and Christmas gifts for all the family members, even if they weren't nice to us. Such a waste of time and money, traditions. I don't want to hear about Santa or Baby Jesus ever again. They don't even know when he was born! Probably in March or April, I heard! If it was really important, surely the Bible would have told us when it was.
I think one of the inherit problems with this country (the US) is that many of our citizens have lost base with culture and cultural identity. Many of us care little for the traditions and graces of our ancestors. It's going being the simple "having children out of wedlock" your average rant regarding the youth of today boundaries. Families are losing their traditions, no more family dinners, holidays are becoming more materialistic...
Children have lost pride in their culture. Instead of embracing the principles of our past we reject them as too "old fashioned" or out of date when cultural history can teach us quite a bit about who we are and where we have come from. It's not just about dancing around fires with paint on your face, culture is an entire array of social graces, societal perceptions etc. I have a hard time believing that if, tomorrow, having sex with children became a cultural norm, that most of us would be cool with that. If tomorrow, the cultural norm became in favor of murder - if someone sleeps with your wife, it is OK to kill them and the law will look the other way because it is OK by our cultural standards - that it would bother no one.
Culture is more important than we like to think it is. Tradition, to an extent, is important but I don't think everyone needs it to add substance to their lives. It's a nice guide to have but it's not totally necessary.
I don't think tradition is important to me. But culture and tradition are, like, way different things.
Culture is something that's being built all the time, and will continue to be built until the end of time. Wanting to get rid of culture is like wanting to get rid of weather. Of course, you can choose to opt out of culture if you wish, but really everything is culture. IIN has a culture. Your town has a culture. Your country has a culture. Video games, TV shows, books... all these have cultures built around them. You can choose to opt out of individual cultures you don't like (I opt out of the cultures built up around Twilight and Justin Bieber, for example, because I don't enjoy those things). But if you opt out of all culture then you opt out of everything, and you opt in to living your life alone.
Tradition is different. Tradition is leftovers from the past which are popular enough to remain practiced and observed in the present. I think it's normal to see those things as intrusive and obstructive to progress and your modern way of living. I do too, sometimes. Some traditions can enrich life, like Christmas does. Others, like the monarchy, are much more controversial. Some things, like banning same sex marriage and not allowing female bishops in the church, are done awful things done under the guise of tradition.
I know they're different things. I'm just saying that if a specific part of culture or tradition was gone, I really wouldn't care because something else would take their place.
I guess my original question could be put as "IIN to not have a sense of nostalgia?"
Thanks for the input. It always helps to clarify thoughts by discussion.
It's not normal for me to have no sense of nostalgia at all, to have no attachment or fondness for anything from the past. Although it is true that something new will always fill the niche of anything that leaves, and the new thing will probably be objectively just as good as it's predecessor, I think I would always feel some emotional attachment to that original thing. I'm sure it is normal for some people not to be like that though, because everything is.
For example, if a band I really loved split up, I would probably be very sad. One of the good things about capitalism is that logically a new band doing the exact same type of music would always take their place quite soon, and they would probably be just as good. I would always feel an emotional connection to that first band though, because I'd feel nostalgic. I don't know why that is, and I guess it isn't always logical or sensible.
I guess the main point in my original comment was that if I certain part of tradition was gone I would probably not be too upset, but if I particular piece of culture I was interested in was gone I would be much more upset.
I think culture only holds people back. People should just live as they want to regardless of where they are from. I think people should define their own morals and ethics through discussion and reading rather then inherit them.
Culture is organic. It isn't going to stop just because you don't want to preserve some aspects of it. What tradition do you want to do away with? Saying you don't care about all of it means very little. It only tells me that you are another apathetic individual. Is that what culture is becoming?
I'll take no part in that. I'll create my own traditions.
It's not that I want to do away with any traditions in particular. I just can't justify trying to save culture and tradition like it's a dying animal.
But there are so many aspects to it. Wanting to save some and do away with others is natural. It really depends on the specifics of what you to see different.
What traditions are people holding onto that you would like to see changed? Do you have a specific example?
I don't have many specific examples as my general reaction is to just shake my head and move on, but a lot of Americans seem to be far too proud of being African American, Asian American, Native American, or any other ethnicity/culture like it's a badge of honor.
I guess the easiest example would be the Native Americans in the US. Many of them seem determined to preserve their culture and way of life, in spite of the fact that it has no purpose anymore.
How do you define purpose?
I understand where you are coming from however if it isn't your culture, you have little right to complain. A friend of mine is Native American and keeping her community alive gives her purpose. She does it through art and it teaches locals the history of the region. She only asks for respect and the freedom to be who she is. Some may not have a firm grasp on what that means, but you do not define what does and does not have meaning for someone.
I'm coming from a purely utilitarian standpoint.
Purpose defined as helping society in a tangible, quanifiable way.
Don't get me wrong. I have no intention of stopping anyone from preserving their culture or anything like that, but I still think it's pointless.