"trad" is a contradiction "the way we do things" is not, but once it has to call itself "trad" it has become self-confused
Why "trad" is self-contradictory: there's no choiceless culture to return to
8 tweets · May 2024 · 34 likes · 2 retweets · read on Twitter
trad is arbitrary but pretends (incl to itself) that it's not and is actually fixed and known and involves no choices 1950s are one image, but modernity isn't trad Victorian era is another image, but it ain't trad either
< whatever my parents are doing, or thought they were doing > is also a common image same with most of what we think we know about huntergatherer cultures etc etc etc.
lots of inspirations, but you nonetheless have to choose. can't go back to choiceless society, which is the main thing that all of these images of trad have in common!
there is no default culture, in the same way there is no person who doesn't have an accent when they speak
the "choiceless" term is from @Meaningness, who coined it to highlight exactly these issues: > I was looking for an alternative to "tradition," which is semantically overloaded (and therefore confusingly ambiguous). For the reasons you mention! meaningness.com/choiceless-mode
the Preconquest Consciousness article opens by posing this conundrum:
evolution only happens forwards. you can remix elements of the old, you can bring them into the future. you can renew or revive. but you can't go back!
