What a soft spot for tradition we have these days.

In the Netherlands, where I originally come from, it’s hanging on to traditions associated with our national feast, Sinterklaas, where the old grey-haired man who brings us presents is ‘assisted’ by a bunch of black helpers. After years of recurring discussion on whether or not this is racist, this seems to be the year where, finally, a real decision will have to be made, after even the UN has spoken out against the tradition of ‘Black Pete’ (Zwarte Piet).

Hopefully, despite the nostalgic sentiments of a large part of the Dutch population, we will finally decide this is a tradition that cannot be kept up any longer.

In Malta, where I now live, it’s a group of about 10,000 hunters who are vigorously defending their right to continue their so-called ‘socio-cultural tradition’ of shooting down everything that flies, be they the species they are allowed to hunt or protected species such as flamingos or eagles. During the hunting season, they basically take over the countryside because who would want to go hiking, cycling, sunbathing or swimming in an area with constant gunshot? The concept of tradition is used to defend practices that are not acceptable by today’s standards, that are not sustainable and that clearly hurt other people and other living beings.

I think we should stop accepting tradition as an argument on its own and view the implications of these traditions in light of today’s values and reality.