Friday, 10 December 2010

Of taboos...

Most taboos are silly, and should be broken. Like tattoos, peircings, be able to be married and still see friends of the opposite sex, to talk about sexuality and beliefs openly.

Why in this day and age should we have to adhere to this set idea that all people come in one way? Having a tattoo, or smoking doesn't make people any worse at their jobs yet many employers hold this question as a hiring point. Even sexuality is considered a make or break point, there is still the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the US military.

For years talking about cancer was considered a taboo, but why should it be? If I was to get cancer I'd certaintly look to the support of my friends and fight for the cure. Perhaps this older example is a little harder to connect with now, but there are other diseases that many people would prefer to sweep under the rug like HIV and AIDS. Many people are scared to tell others about this illness and get support and help because they fear the "negative" connotations of being gay or dirty.  

So really what is the point of these restrictions on the beautiful variety of the human kind? Rules that have been created to protect society by placing these "laws" on right and wrong that serve no function. When people see someone they perceive as different and they don't try to understand one another you get these taboos telling us some made up dangers for a group of "others".  Dr. Suess couldn't have done better than The Sneetches when describing the stupidity of group function and seclusion based on simple differences. In the end they are all just sneetches and we are all just humans.

Some taboos come from religion and some from us. We are all just as likely to make false ideas and prejudice against those we don't understand, but we need to recognise it and overcome it, otherwise we'll never move on as a species.

That said are there any taboos that do have a good purpose? I think this largely relies on what you see to be a good purpose, but I can only think of one taboo.

The taboo of cheating. Why this one? Respect.

I currently fancy someone who is in a relationship but its just a meager fancy and I will move on with a couple weeks time. But even if I hated this persons significant other I still need to respect them, and respect that they have a relationship and that being the "mistress" wouldn't earn me any respect as a person either. When you get into the territory of relationships I think the rules are there for a reason, to prevent people from getting hurt and causing drama, which I'm sure we all know and hate. 

Even if the girlfriend is up for a threesome, which wouldn't be cheating anymore, or some other rediculous propostion it wouldn't get me anywhere nor would I be able to respect myself for that. 

So either way I wouldn't even try to pry into that, and though I think that the guy is a one in a million I'll find someone else even if I have to meet a million more people to do it. And in several years time we can all laugh about it, instead of having hard feelings. 

So I feel I'm in a very bad position, because I can't properly say that taboos shouldn't exsist when I think one should. But in the end of the day we are all grey on any matter.




No comments:

Post a Comment