The Tradition Of Tradition: Ridiculous.


The rage, it boils up in me like water, um, boiling up in, I guess in a kettle or pan or something.  Only more rage-like and less wet, and not in a pan or kettle.  I’m getting distracted already, but that’s because I am quite, quite cross; cross at many things in my life, many of which are irritatingly predictable and unsolvable and I should probably just suck it up and get on with it.  
I won’t, obviously, I’ll let them fester and grow worse in my mind until they consume me in a pointless, futile fog of self inflicted woe.  But some of them are genuinely irritating at a logical level, a level at which I can’t simply blame my proclivity towards grumbling, a level that sits somewhere between Not Worth Mentioning and Frivolous Genocide, floors 5 and 376 in Gripe, the department store for the disgruntled gentleman.  I talk, of course, of peoples refusal to listen to reason, sense or just a differing viewpoint with at least some validity.
It is the rearing head of an old nemesis that brings me to this.  You may remember, if you’re some kind of massive loser, a post from last March about shorts in the workplace and how I can’t wear them when it’s bloody, sodding boiling.  Well, here we are again, all hot and nice outside and hot and insufferable in.  Naturally I remained calm, dealt with my issues internally and carried on with my work.  HAHAHAHAHAHA.  No I didn’t, I very clearly stated my displeasure and moaned about my discomfort.  
Shortsgate is not what I’m writing about today, but it is a prime example of how people react when pushed against a metaphorical wall built of inconvenient truth, or at the least cemented with the slurry of perfectly reasonable points.  You see it is inescapable fact that it’s not really fair that us guys sweat into our socks while the ladies float around in sleeveless dresses and knee skimming skirts – a bit sexist even – and when the initial lacklustre ‘well it’s a company image issue’ counter is rebuffed, the usual response is ‘that’s just how it is’. Which is a dreadful response.
This is tradition for the sake of tradition.  Basically, what my delightful management team are saying, is that because this is how things were when they got here, that’s how they should stay.  Now I’m fairly sure that’s a fucking stupid way to think and act, I’m not saying they’re fucking stupid because I’m not an idiot, but I am saying that it is.  If this was the way things were done on a larger scale I actually wouldn’t have a discrimination based argument about the shorts because there wouldn’t be any women floating around all cooly in my office for me to compare my sweaty shins to.  There wouldn’t be any women at all because they’d be at home, because that’s how things were and thus how they would have stayed.  A dramatic example, and probably not the best, but I’m awfully hot so deal with it.  People, generally, don’t seem to want to confront change to the norm, and see anyone having a go as a threat, nuisance or grouchy administrator with a problem with authority.  Which I don’t have.  I have a problem with circumstances based on silly or out dated decisions continuing because it’s easier to allow things to carry on than to rock the boat.  The poorly conceived boat.
There is a lot of this sort of thinking going around at the moment.  This whole NSA, GCHQ, lying, spying on citizens private communications, branding-people-traitors-when-really-they’re-totally-not kerfuffle, it’s brought a lot of Shruggers out.  Shrugging at the situation, shrugging off the future repercussions and shrugging at those who actually care, doesn’t make a problem go away.  Just because you don’t care, or the situation doesn’t affect you, doesn’t make it any less of a situation.  


Most importantly, a thing is not correct just because those in charge say it is.  It was probably like that when they got there and I doubt they’re aware why.  Question, reason, and sometimes refuse to do whatever it is that’s ridiculous, otherwise the world will be an unrecognisable mess by the time our children are old enough to not bother changing things.

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