but ... It's always been that way

A phrase no one is unfamiliar with, I'm sure, but is that such a good thing? Rituals and customs are commonly set up and expanded upon over time by the Elite in control as a way to mold and conform a society. Just look at The Super Bowl and at what Christmas has become for huge glaring examples. Usually behind it all is the all mighty dollar and getting it into their pockets, along with enslaving and distracting a society at the same time. Just look at the Romans and the reasons behind the coliseums. Look at this shiny thing over here, while we do this over here, so you don't notice; A fully predictable and in your face tactic. So then why are so many people blindly following the herd and upholding a ritual that directly benefits the "powers that be" with money and control?
I mean there's the obvious answer that people are stupid, but really, people are a lot smarter than they know. Everyone is really smart about something, not to mention the dumbing down tactics involved throughout a person's entire life from the moment of birth to instill the message that you're not, and the complete and utter lies about history. I don't care what anyone says, People built The Pyramids. Yes, we are that intelligent and more, it doesn't take aliens, but I digress...

What this is, is a logical fallacy, the Appeal to Tradition. Appeal to Tradition is a fallacy that occurs when it is assumed that something is better or correct simply because it is older, traditional, or "always has been done." This sort of "reasoning" has the following form:

X is old or traditional

Therefore X is correct or better.

I've seen no better way to illustrate this, and I wanted to share it with you. The original academic study reference on which it is based is the snappily entitled “Stephenson, G. R. (1967). Cultural acquisition of a specific learned response among rhesus monkeys. In: Starek, D., Schneider, R., and Kuhn, H. J. (eds.), Progress in Primatology, Stuttgart: Fischer, pp. 279-288 

Read on for more ...

This is also a tactic frequently used by Debaters and Politicians. It's a tactic that is directly psychological and should be recognized by everyone. Here is the academic version generally used in a textbook:

argumentum ad antiquitatem

(also known as: appeal to common practice, appeal to antiquity, proof from tradition, appeal to past practice, gadarene swine fallacy [form of], traditional wisdom)

Description: Using historical preferences of the people (tradition), either in general or as specific as the historical preferences of a single individual, as evidence that the historical preference is correct.  Traditions are often passed from generation to generation with no other explanation besides, “this is the way it has always been done”—which is not a reason, it is an absence of a reason.

Logical Form:

We have been doing X for generations.

Therefore, we should keep doing X.

Our ancestors thought X was right.

Therefore, X is right.

Example #1:

Dave: For five generations, the men in our family went to Stanford and became doctors, while the women got married and raised children.  Therefore, it is my duty to become a doctor.

Kaitlin: Do you want to become a doctor?

Dave: It doesn't matter -- it is our family tradition.  Who am I to break it?

Explanation:  Just as it takes people to start traditions, it takes people to end them.  A tradition is not reason for action -- it is like watching the same movie over and over again but never asking why you should keep watching it.

Example #2:

Marriage has traditionally been between a man and a woman; therefore, gay marriage should not be allowed.

Explanation:  Very often traditions stem from religious and/or archaic beliefs, and until people question the logic and reasoning behind such traditions, people who are negatively affected by such traditions will continue to suffer.  Just because it was acceptable in past cultures and times, does not mean it is acceptable today.  Think racism, sexism, slavery, and corporal punishment.

Exception: Victimless traditions that are preserved for the sake of preserving the traditions themselves do not require any other reason.

Tip: If it weren’t for the creativity of our ancestors, we would have no traditions.  Be creative and start your own traditions that somehow make the world a better place.

Variation: The gadarene swine fallacy refers to the metaphor of planes flying in formation.  If one plane appears out of formation, we assume the one plane is wrong, rather than the other planes actually being on the wrong course, but history tells us that at times, the “single planes”, like Martin Luther King, Jr., show us how the rest of us were really just horribly off course.

Thank you to http://jason.wells.me/3551 for finding the monkeys, I haven't seen them in a very long time.

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