Sacrosanct: Regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with.


I have been pouring over my scant knowledge of human history and I have yet to pinpoint one previously considered sacrosanct item that society screwed up with. I know that my grandmother (bless her heart) thought that her generation was the greatest and “kids these days” and all that. Hasn't every generation bemoaned the loss of their sacred and honored traditions? So please help me out here, what did we get rid of that we should have kept?


This is important to me because currently my world view is that our way of life is threatened by the concept of sacrosanct. Putting aside the political implications of 2nd amendment worship, there are some real issues that arise when we value sacredness over sensibleness. Gay marriage, racial equality, and a host of other issues were and are supported by things that are considered too hot to touch. So please throw a guy a bone, I know that black isn't a color and white is only ok during the warmer months so show me the grey in this discussion.

In my part of the world (UK) and in my family the following are sacrosanct:

Personal and intimate matters between husband and wife
Income and financial matters
Sexual preferences
Political preferences
Religious preferences
Personal clothing and underwear
Family issues/problems

None of the above is considered available or suitable for discussion outside the family.

I don't think the mormons miss us because we were somewhat problematic - at least most of us were.

Briggy

Please define "...our way of life..." If you study science and biology in particular, it becomes apparent man is a highly adaptable, highly survivable life form. Plenty of things threaten our way of life, but we improvise, adapt, and overcome.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Go live a happy full life and like the lillies of the field, toil not, nor spin.

Touching on one of your other points, every generation thinks the world is going to hell in a handbasket. It isn't true.

Can you restate your question please? Yes, sacred cows get gored with the passage of time, but they deserve it most of the time.

I stated my question the way I wanted to state it.

Thanks for your thoughts, I fully intend to act for myself and to try and live my life in a way that will bring me what I consider to be the happiest result. I am buoyed by the fact that things seem to be slowly but steadily improving, but I am sad, if that is the right word, that it is slow.

Slow is relative my friend. As compared to what?

We live in a time unparalleled for innovation - the industrial revolution is probably the closest along with the Enlightenment for social advances, but for straight up new stuff, we are whizzing through one new discovery after another. Exciting times!

Nanowire technology and DNA decoding come to mind for holding vast potential to change life as we know it. Don't touch that dial...it will be well within your lifetime.

Thus sayeth iflewover (the cuckoo's nest).

My only concept of time is the 38 years that I have lived. The more I live the faster things tend to go.

Of course with great change comes great resistance and I have witnessed some pretty hard core resistance.

jacob Wrote:
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> I have been pouring over my scant knowledge of
> human history and I have yet to pinpoint one
> previously considered sacrosanct item that society
> screwed up with. I know that my grandmother (bless
> her heart) thought that her generation was the
> greatest and “kids these days” and all that.

"What is happening to our young
people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?" -- Plato

"The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to their elders.... They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and are tyrants over their teachers." -- Socrates

Love it! Thanks for the great quotes.

children are sacrosanct.

They deserve to be protected, taught, loved unconditionally.

Whether mormons believe it or not they really did not ask to be born. Parents took it upon themselves to force the issue.

Cruelty is also not something that should be taken seriously.

I wish everyone could understand and feel whatever pain they inflict on others before they act. That would be a great innovation for evolution.

Otherwise, meh, methinks there are many things that can be looked at with a good sense of humor and only be made better

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_interests_(rhetoric)

I think you are right, children deserved to be protected, but your statement made me laugh a bit because it is the go to argument of of most people who would take my rights away.

To Iflewover -- I LOVE your musing i.e. "sacred cows get gored with the passage of time." Is that from your brilliance or a quote from someone else? May I use it? I think it would be a thought provoking Facebook post.Gosh, I am in love with that thing!

Haha - pulled it right out of my rear, so please do with it what you will:)

I was actually grasping at straws as to the intent of jacob's question and threw that there in hopes it added to the conversation.

I think it comes from the idea that one's man myth is another's religion and what is sacrosanct to one culture is nothing to another.

So, another stab at it: What did we get rid of that we should have kept? I for one miss good radio stations that broke new music.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2013 05:54PM by iflewover.

In general, freedom and life are sacrosanct to me, but only insofar as they don't impede the freedom or life of someone else. Anything that doesn't fall under these categories is not and should not be sacrosanct.

Life and liberty are about the only two things that I would consider sacrosanct. People's feelings are not.

The only exception to the second part would be acts that would cause extreme harm to others based on their feelings.

Everything is open for discussion. Those who have issues with that tend not to be my friend and my life is happier for it. There is nothing more liberating than being with a group of friends who don't worry about who they might offend.

A lot of younger generations get a lot of shit.

But I will ask the obvious question:

Who raised them, and why did they turn out to be such fuck ups?

Any generation that venerates themselves at the expense of their own children is a really stupid generation.

If they don't like their own children, they need to have the courage to accept responsibility for not raising them properly.

If you don't like "kids these days" look in the mirror.

You most likely were a major fuck up that passed it on.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2013 06:06PM by Raptor Jesus.

Raptor Jesus Wrote:
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> A lot of younger generations get a lot of @#$%&.
>
> But I will ask the obvious question:
>
> Who raised them, and why did they turn out to be
> such fuck ups?
>
Parents who would rather be buddies. Parents who say "I'll never be as strict with my kids as my parents were with me." Parents who negotiate with their toddlers instead of establishing themselves as the chief in the relationship.

Parents who do not understand that, like a dog, a child is an animal who must be taught proper behavior in order to be welcomed everywhere he or she is taken.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2013 06:23PM by fiona64.

I like "Dog Whisperer" and "Supernanny" too, but even people who try to follow the advice you are promoting here, also fuck up and train their kids to be "sociopathic" or "dysfunctional".

Parents and schools in the 1950's thought they were doing it right by being strict, and demanding compliance. Time passed, and the 1960's happened. Hey, wha? Who created all those horrible longhairs?

My strict, conservative, super conformist parents, for starters.

hello Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like "Dog Whisperer" and "Supernanny" too, but
> even people who try to follow the advice you are
> promoting here, also fuck up and train their kids
> to be "sociopathic" or "dysfunctional".
>
> Parents and schools in the 1950's thought they
> were doing it right by being strict, and demanding
> compliance. Time passed, and the 1960's happened.
> Hey, wha? Who created all those horrible
> longhairs?
>
> My strict, conservative, super conformist parents,
> for starters.

And I'm significantly more liberal than my parents as well.

However, the helicopter parents that I describe are the ones who are not only allowing their kids to run amok but are leaving them woefully unprepared for a world that will *not* give them a trophy just for showing up.

If they didn't measure up, well....

Once again, to the "greatest generation," if you didn't like your children - well....you raised them.

If 'baby boomers' don't like "generation X, Y, or Millennials," tough shit. You bred them.

Responsibility is hard sometimes. But it is fun to cry about how stupid your own offspring are.

"Any generation that venerates themselves at the expense of their own children is a really stupid generation."

I'm stealing this. For years I've felt the same way but couldn't put it into words.

RJ your musings are sacrosanct.

I don't think there is a defined list. Never seen one!

Everyone draws their own line -- boundaries for whatever reason. Some of it comes from out upbringing.

Naturally, we can expect that people have different lines they won't cross.

We won't all agree.
But that's OK.

Sacrosanct is....

Sacrosanct is....

Different things for different people!

That's what sacrosanct is.

To a Catholic....it's his beads, beads, beads,

To a Salesman....it's his leads, leads, leads,

To a Mormon....it's his un-der-wear

To right-wing politics....it's a Billionaire.

The rule of law is vital, and vastly better than being ruled by religion.

WCG..that is funny! Thanks!

Jacob, welcome to your existential midlife crisis.

Everything is changing exactly at the "right" speed. You wanting it to be faster is you not accepting the progress made and wanting things to be different.

Wanting things to be different is a source of discontent of one's personal peace. You can't possibly know all the factors that to into a tipping point that makes it stick.

You might enjoy reading Malcolm Gladwell's books like "Tipping Point" and "Blink." One will give you examples of social movements that suddenly took hold after years of apparent plateau-ing. The other will introduce you into the amazing miraculousness of human cognition and the importance of placing your faith in your own gut instinct.

If your interests lie more in the direction of how societies influence religion and vice-versa, you cannot go wrong by gaining a wider perspective.

When I was Mormon, I held views that I thought were unique. I was embarrassingly apocalyptic and thought I was being given secret knowledge by my prophets to prepare me and my family for survival...blah, blah, blah. I was fearful. Mormons wanted me that way and they were successful to a degree that I will only reveal when I am past being embarrassed (not yet).

Thank nogod for the day I picked up my first Joseph Campbell book. He is the expert on mythology and was so successful he almost inadvertantly create a cult following for himself. His book "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" spawned Star Wars and an entire generation of screenwriters using his template of the Hero's Journey. The book that I first read was "The Power of Myth."

O.M.G. my little narrow world exploded into an understanding that we have always needed a savior, that we always had a flood, and that Christianity was only the latest incarnation of our sacred stories. If you choose not to read the book, let me give you right here the most important take-away: Our sacred stories are rendered powerless when civilization deems them to be liberal.

And that's exactly what you see happening in America today.

Aren't you glad to be alive to see it in your lifetime?

Best

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