Monday, October 31, 2005

What's Good for the Goose

People who adhere to custom do so out of respect for their own community and its inheritance. They hold certain things sacred because some moment in their ancestral past, a great moment perhaps, consecrated them. Reverence for your own past is reverence for yourself as a people. In what way is that arbitrary? Is it silly for a people to hold geese sacred, if it happened long ago that the honking of geese saved their city from otherwise inevitable destruction at the hands of an invader?

11 comments:

Nimiwey said...

It's also a sense of belonging. We like to feel a part of something, perhaps relating to our herd instinct. There's nothing wrong with the preservation of culture, as long as it's not at the price of alienating others.

brainmarket said...

Where's my fish and chips and warm beer?

Seriously, though, one thing I miss around this time of year is burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the village green.

Nimiwey said...

I Always thought it was Guy Forks. We need to work on your "fawks" "forks" enunciation.

brainmarket said...

Mr. "Forks," btw, is one of the stars of my flickr "rogues gallery."

Nature's Rebel said...

As soon as we elevate a principle, such as not alienating others, above individual cultures we nullify them. What if there were no law higher than local law?

Nimiwey said...

Like no federal law?

Each state would be very different from one another, more like countries.

Nature's Rebel said...

No federal law, no international law. People, evolved as people.

Nature's Rebel said...

On another note, an f I should think, I'm gonna get flagged for adult content if you two keep fawking on my blog.

Nimiwey said...

I thought we were forking, who knew.

brainmarket said...

"Local" is hard to define. I would suggest one set of laws per island, irrespective of the island's size.
It's hard to respect a far king's laws.

Nature's Rebel said...

Hold the thought on the definition of local, brain. We have to dig further. I certainly have nothing to argue with on the distant king.