Not just the dead, but also anyone else who practices
EDIT: I’m a dumbass, have a pic of their sign I took a couple of years ago
It is tradition in my family that we watch Halloween/scary movies on one long weekend in October each year. We eat yummy food and candy. We sleep on an air mattress in the living room. I guess we may stop if my kids protest when they get older, but not all traditions are bad or harken back to the dead, or even our parents. My wife and I started this when it was just the two of us, and we’ve continued with our kids. Everyone loves it.
It sounds like there are traditions that can propagate enjoyment and generally be a positive way to engage. That traditions aren’t inherently a negative thing, however, implies that peer pressure is also inherently a negative thing.
The meme’s point is to show how traditions often manifest themselves by influencing other members to do things they may be resistant to or might not otherwise choose to do, which is usually started by a lineage back then. The difference is lineage rather than a social group’s member(s). The response to that being that traditions aren’t inherently harmful implies that peer pressure is intrinsically negative, which is not accurate. There is such a thing as positive peer pressure; friends going to a gym together pressure each other to continue going to the gym.
This response to the meme seems to showcase a reflexive protection of the idea of tradition, even though the meme isn’t directly attacking tradition. If anything, the similarities illustrate how traditions can be as negative or positive as peer pressure - and through that lens - can give a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of how traditions may be adverse or positive. What do you think?
Tradition is just as dead as those who gave it to us. The advertising industry has achieved the apotheosis of peer pressure in the form of social media. We ought to mourn the loss of tradition but we’re too busy scrolling.
