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Taboo
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Taboo is a restriction of behavior that is deemed extremely socially unacceptable and profane in a society. Taboos exist in every society and when broken, cause people to lose their fucking minds.
Word origin[edit]
The word entered the English language (and many other languages) from the Tongan language. In Tongan, it means "sacred". The word tabu (and its variants) is common in Austronesian languages
which mostly stretch from parts of southeast Asia across the Pacific Ocean. In some Austronesian languages, tabu can have somewhat different meanings, for example referring to particular family relations with whom one has restrictive behavioral relations,[1] or referring to a highly-valued unit of traditional currency.[2]
The purpose[edit]
Taboos exist to give people an excuse to get outraged about something maintain order in a society, as well as logical reasons. But overall, taboos are established because individuals are products of their environment and therefore feel pressures from others to conform.[3] In addition, "[s]ociety exists to maintain order, and taboos threaten that order".[3]
Science and logic are used to back up taboos:
- Murder — Taboos maintain a society, killing gets rid of a society.
- Incest — Biologically, incest is an evolutionary dead-end[3]
While taboos are taken extremely seriously, past taboos seem outrageous in hindsight. This reflects how societal values have changed, and demonstrates just how arbitrary they can be.
Taboos around the world[edit]
Universal and near-universal taboos[edit]
Paedophilia—The left movementa notorious rag in the UK says otherwise. No, seriously…- Cannibalism — Liking Campbell® chicken soup[citation NOT needed]
Homosexuality— Get with the times, grandpa.- Murder — Despite what Bible God tells us.
- Baby loss — Because mothers need a stigma to top off their depression from their loss.[4]
- Necrophilia
Bestiality— If you can manipulate the authorities strong enough, you can make them believe that it is a genuine love affair… at least in Cambodia.[5]Rape— In some jurisdictions, the rapist is free of charge if he decides to marry the victim.[6]- Incest[7] — Despite what pornhub has taught us,[citation NOT needed] it is historically a firmly established taboo; however, this is changing in Europe[8] (which had a pretty long-standing tradition of incest amongst its royalty anyways). However, what exactly constitutes incest varies; for example, first-cousin sex is illegal in some jurisdictions and completely normal in others.
USA[edit]
- Being Donald Trump
Being a racist— Removed because of redundancy, see above.Girls wearing pants— And no, they weren't just wearing undies, they wore skirts.[9]- The N-word — Unless said by a black person.
Being JapaneseChild outside of marriage[9]Visible bra straps[9]- Polygamy[7]
Being a non-heterosexual[9]- Pedophilia — According to Americans, all men are pedophiles.
- Being Donald Trump — Repeated again for stress.
- Owning a gun
Being Russian- Being a Mormon — Because Americans don't understand the religion.
Being a Communist- Being a Muslim — Despite other false-threats to our nation, this time it's not just a moral panic, we promise!
China[edit]
- Naming taboo — A Chinese taboo of writing the name of exalted members such as emperors. This seems more of a way to establish superiority to plebs than anything.
- "Flipping a cooked fish" — we can't make this shit up[10]
India[edit]
- Not following the caste system (if Hindu).[11]
Japan[edit]
- Not following dumb business customs.[11]
- Saying a private part by its actual name; it can even result in an obscenity charge.[12]
- Not eating in specified locations.[12]
- Blowing your nose.[12]
References[edit]
- ↑ The Melanesians of British New Guinea by C. G. Seligman, Cambridge University Press 1910, page 707.
- ↑ Richard Parkinson, Thirty years in the South Seas: Land and people, customs and traditions in the Bismarck Archipelago and on the German Solomon Islands. Sydney University Press, 2010. ISBN 1920899634.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Why do Taboos Exist? Archived from hubpages.com, 28 September 2009.
- ↑ Parents want to end the taboo of talking about baby loss. BBC, 13 October 2016.
- ↑ Hubby does it doggy style. Archived from news24.com, 2 January 2005.
- ↑ Calvin Sims, Justice in Peru: Victim Gets Rapist for a Husband. Archived from The New York Times, 12 March 1997.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jeanne Baird, What Are Some American Taboos? Archived from Our Everyday Life, 2016.
- ↑ Incest: an age-old taboo. BBC, 12 March 2007.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Yagana Shah, 9 Common Things That Used To Be Totally Taboo. HuffPost, 10 July 2014.
- ↑ DeAnna Kerley, 13 Dining-Related Taboos from Around the World. Mental Floss, 15 April 2014.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cultural Taboos. Archived from khoaanh.net, 4 January 2012.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Agnes Rèdon, 8 Taboos Not to Break When in Japan. Matador Network, 7 November 2014.