thread: 2006-09-08 : Ben on breaking tradition
On 2006-09-09, Joel P. Shempert wrote:
You know, on reflection it seems to me that a lot of the ways that breaking with tradition is "damaging" often stem from the tradition-followers coming down on the breakers. It's not just that, say, a woman choosing who she will marry is harmful in itself, but it messes up the life of the woman and those around her precisely because the greater society rains down ostracization, censure, and general persecution on her for her choice. It may well be that a particular tradition-break has harmful consequences, and in a perfect world that's exactly what a tradition would be there to guard against. But that's not always the case; sometimes the bad results are only imagined, and sometimes the imagined change wrought is in fact arguably a good thing, a positive social change. Of course, what constitutes "positive" is a tough judgment call. . .
Regarding the roleplaying issue, Sydney, it strikes me that Ben is talking precisely about the ramifications for roleplaying if carried to different areas of intentionality and massive breaches of containment. Stuff like "recruitment and indoctrination tool. . ." The "obscurity" Ben talks about limiting roleplaying's effect is precisely the "containment" that keeps it relatively safe, I think.
