I'm not taking a side here. Just understand this. Social norms exist. They always have, they always will. Some will stick by them no matter what. Others will fight them.
We all adhere to those norms we agree with and disregard those we don't agree with.
There is no 'side' to take.
I asked some very simple questions. We take some things so for granted it is worth looking at them in a more fundamental way and asking ourselves if they are really necessary or desirable.
I understand that we as humans have extremely strong natural tendencies, with sound evolutionary explanations, for classifying things and especially people into groups. We distrust or fear people that look different, talk different, think different, and act different.
People kill each other over how to pray to the same God or the football team they support.
Children bully each other, teens split up into distinct groups easily identified by clothing, music they listen to, or interests, and adults ostracize people at work and hate or refuse to socialize with people from different neighborhoods, social class, skin colour or ethnic group and nationality.
We know enough in these times to actually see past this and to make an effort to see people for what they are and not assume who we think they are because of what group they belong to. We no longer are ignorant of history and anything past the next village or the tribe over the next hill.
We do not have the excuse of our ancestors, nor the need, to stick to clans and tribes or extended families for survival itself.
This is why we still have war- not because we naturally hate each other, but because our inclinations and tendencies to create identity groups that have an evolutionary explanation are exploited by those who wish to gain wealth and power, to do their bidding.
We march our children off to fie in battle in the name of freedom, religion, protecting our way of life, and often things so trivial it would be hard to believe if it wasn't so common. We can go from an office job to bayoneting someone in a foreign land in a month because we have perfected the devices of propaganda, turning friendly nations into evil ones in a matter of weeks or days.
I can go on forever but I guess you see where I'm going. Is this really the best humans can be? Should we not think twice before handing our ludicrous prejudices down to our children? Do we really have reason to hate our neighbour because they wear different clothes?
Do the clothes we wear really change the person wearing them, like some kind of magic where simply putting on a skirt instead of pants or vice versa can create scandal, get you beaten up, and, yes, ostracized?
Maybe we should look again at the concept of ostracism, not to exclude people from the 'circle of trust', but to banish politicians who do the most to destroy democracies that seek to ensure we get an equal voice no matter what we wear or who we pray to or what team we support.
