Exactly. Great piece Alison.

“We were just raised that way” isn’t an excuse either.

My inlaws are always saying things like “it’s just the way it is/was” or “that’s how we’ve always done it”.

Well, yes, until some people speak up and try to change things. Of course that would have been part of the problem for previous generations — while knowing something was wrong, they potentially feared for their own lives if they objected, plus the culture was to just accept your lot and the ‘authority’ of others. That doesn’t give anyone an excuse not to question the way “things are done” or the way they were raised though. Not at all.

If you don’t like something, at least you yourself can behave differently — who knows, it might catch on to treat (whatever section of humanity you are mistreating) with less cruelty and more kindness/respect.

Also, “always” can be decidedly short sighted. Always is somethings arbitrary too — and often means in the last hundred years or so, since the Industrial Revolution. At times ‘always’ is claimed, yet when you look back a century or two it transpires that this is completely untrue.

The challenge as ever would be getting people to routinely think for themselves and then be able to take personal responsibility instead of making excuses. Sigh.