 Trends Turning Into Taboos
Is everything a different version of
something older, as a recent movie tells us?* Though it looks complex, it`s not hard to
see the similarity between "pen-pals" and "e-mail friends," or between
"looking for a friend" messages sent via radio waves and "80630" or
"yonja.com." We're creating a new reality by putting one layer over another, and
each layer reminds us of an older one.
Those who love to complain about the way the world works "these days" close
their eyes in order to not see the similarity, because according to them, the familiar is
"good" while the unfamiliar is "strange" and "dangerous," if
not "evil." So, if they accept the similarity between the familiar and the
unfamiliar, their entire conception of good and bad will be destroyed. What a nightmare!
Around the time between our teenage and middle-age years, most of us tend to (or will
soon) stop making fun of our parents' reactions to new lifestyles. Though some people call
this "starting to understand our parents," this is just an unconscious
preparation for getting old: we're getting ready to disparage the unfamiliar, just as our
parents have been doing since we were little children.
I'm aware that I'm making a huge generalization, but unfortunately this is how most people
live. There's an interesting life cycle for most human beings, which is really different
from that of other animals: birth, accepting new trends, defending those trends in
opposition to our parents, creating brand-new taboos based on our own trends, disparaging
newer trends, becoming the parents of the next generation, trying to protect them from
'evil' trends…
This life cycle is based on a defensive idea: the unfamiliar might be dangerous. This
defense system gets more and more rigid over time. Finally, one day, without even
realizing it, you get to the point where you accept no one but those who act just like
yourself. But how can you expect to learn anything new from life when you reject anything
that's different from yourself? If someone isn't interested in learning anything new, and
if he/she's completed his/her adventure on this planet, I can't understand why he/she's
still consuming our limited supply of oxygen.
Looking for an answer to the question, "what is good?" is a natural need for any
person, no one would deny that. But if finding an answer means rejecting the other
possibilities, please never "understand" your parents: never have hallucinations
telling you that you've found the ultimate answer to the question.
*: It would be a spoiler to tell which movie it is, wouldn't it?
İsmail O. Postalcıoğlu (POLS/II)
orhan@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr
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