Cultural traditions have been practiced throughout the world since the beginning of mankind, however, only in recent years have some of these acts come under fire due to the health and safety risks they pose. Infections, mental problems and even death are just some of the common outcomes of dangerous traditions still occurring in today's world.
Although many can argue that free will plays a large role in regards to these practices, it is important to note that many recipients of these acts are children and in most cases medical intervention is rare in case of emergencies. It is partly due to these points that some of today's westernized society looks down on the idea of certain cultural traditions, particularly if religion is involved. The internet and social media's popularity has allowed those with first-hand experience of dangerous practices to share their stories and raise awareness in hopes of reducing risks that could prove to be fatal.
There are multiple reasons as to why people see these practices necessary in their culture or religion, however, the most common include proving their dedication to a particular faith, marking the development from childhood to adulthood or to raise social statuses in a society.
Perhaps one of the most controversial cases of religious practices was the exorcism of Anneliese Michel in the early 1970's. Although exorcisms occur frequently, Michel's case became a worldwide topic due to the severity of her disturbances, which included the consumption of insects, barking like a dog while sitting under tables and becoming convinced that she had been possessed by demons. Anneliese Michel's mental health continuously deteriorated over the period of eight years and due to a lack of medical intervention, Michel died at twenty-five years of age. Following her highly publicized death and lawsuits against the priests that performed the exorcisms on Michel, doctors and experts came forward with their personal and professional opinions in regards to the possible cause behind what ended up killing her. Popular opinion is that Anneliese Michel was suffering from Schizophrenic symptoms and could have been helped had her parents allowed medics to intervene, however, their strict Catholic upbringing resulted in priests frequently performing exorcisms on Anneliese Michel.
The case of Anneliese Michel could have been prevented had her parents not had such strong views and dismissed medical help when they had the chance. Unfortunately her mother still stands by her decision to use exorcisms and believes that nothing else could have helped her despite her daughter's pleas for medics to intervene.
(Image Reference: http://www.waronline.org/en/terror/suicide.htm)
Suicide bombing has become a popular method of protests in society today and is particularly common in religious areas such as the Middle East. It has become so common, in fact, that suicide bombings are starting to lose shock-value in the public eye due to the media's constant reporting of these incidents. The latest suicide bombing occurred on the 22nd of September, this year in Peshawar, Pakistan. The Muslim extremists killed 78 innocent people as an attempt to get the American government to pull all militants out of Pakistan, risking fatalities that could have reached well over one hundred victims. Unfortunately people living in countries under attack, particularly in the Middle East, insist on taking matters into their own hands and the irony is that they cause more harm than helping the situation. If communities could be taught how to deal with dangerous environmental changes, such as war and famine, it is likely that many suicide bombers would not turn to such drastic measures in order to be heard. Instead, people choose to remain ignorant and live in fear and in turn, this leads to more discrimination and hate between cultures and religions.
Foot-binding has been practiced since the tenth century in Imperial China and it is a process that requires young females to have each toe broken and their feet tightly bound in order to keep a small cone-like shape. This was common in China as it was believed to attract males. Foot-binding resulted in restricted movement and the ability for a woman to leave her home was practically impossible. Most women also succumbed to multiple disabilities later in life, including infections, rotting flesh and broken bones due to lower bone density.
Adeline Yen Mah, author of 'Falling Leaves', tells the story of growing up in a traditional Chinese upbringing and her experiences with foot-binding in the early 1940's.
Mah writes in her autobiography, "Women were in effect crippled and their inability to walk with ease was a symbol of their subservience", proving that not only were women forced to succumb to a cultural practice that risked their health and well-being, but were to do to remain in an oppressed society.
Baby throwing is a common Indian ritual that sees babies thrown from buildings sometimes over fifty feet high by priests. Those that participate in this dangerous practice believe that babies will become more intelligent, luckier and healthier if they survive the fall.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights' Lov Verma has spoken out against this ritual, stating "I'm absolutely shocked by this. It's not simply the government's job. We need to educate all those who take part in this barbaric practice - the temple priest and the community".
Meanwhile worshipers are angry with the backlash from westernized society and claim that what they practice is their right. A worshiper by the name of Shankar attempted to defend the baby throwing ritual and stated "Our religious beliefs pull many of us to this ceremony every year."
However worshipers choose to view this ritual, the risks involved outweigh the positive outcome. The dangers of this ritual include the baby not being caught, the physical trauma a baby may suffer due to the impact of the fall, and the extreme fear that the baby feels can lead to emotional trauma later on in it's life.
These are cases of rituals that have occurred throughout mankind and unfortunately cannot be stopped completely. When people jeopardize health and safety for rituals that could be avoided, governments and leaders should step in and not only ban the practices, but educate communities about the horrific consequences that can occur. For example, many Chinese women only realized that foot-binding would lead to a life of pain and misery after many years of suffering, and refrained from speaking out against the practice or informing their children of the outcome. Had mothers refused to allow their daughters to have their foot-binding performed, the ritual could have died out much earlier and caused much less damage than it eventually did.
The case of Anneliese Michel could have also been avoided had the multiple priests that performed the exorcisms voiced their concerns when she first began to show signs of disorientation, and talked to Michel's parents about exploring other options should her mental health deteriorate.
Rituals like these that pose risks to people's general health should be talked and taught about more, particularly in communities that follow leaders, such as churches and schools.
Today's society also has the advantage of using the media's influence by raising awareness in the prevention of these rituals publicly.
Five APA Referenced Links:
*Gray, L. (2013). Muslim Bashing in the Wake of Boston Bombing. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130426-boston-marathon-bombing-racism-hate-anti-arab-muslim-tamerlan-dzokhar-tsarnaev/
*Landeplage, T. (2012). Religious 'Baby Throwing' in India. The Richard Dawkins
Foundation for Reason and Science. Retrieved from http://old.richarddawkins.net/discussions/645549-religious-baby-throwing-in-india
*Lankford, A. (2013). The Truth About Suicide Bombing. Global Public Square.
Retrieved from http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/14/the-truth-about-suicide-bombers/
*Schiavenza, M. (2013). The Peculiar History of Foot Binding in China. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-peculiar-history-of-foot-binding-in-china/279718/
*Carpenter, J. (2005). "God told us to exorcise my daughter's demons. I don't regret her death". The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1504158/God-told-us-to-exorcise-my-daughters-demons.-I-dont-regret-her-death.html
Comments Made:
*http://mjesspark.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/draft-same-sex-marriage.html?showComment=1380450852004#c6813749971675084914
*http://katiesiwrite.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/capital-punishment-inthe-height-of.html?showComment=1380451156027#c6773887288196809357
*http://abbeylee23.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/new-zealand-has-notorious-drinking.html#comment-form
Great choice of topic! I would of never came up with it.
ReplyDeleteCultural tradition and religious practices will be hard to stop since it has been done for a long time.
As you said it will risk people's general health. I agree on that and people should realise what they are doing to others or to themselves although it is their culture.
I hope todays media will stop people harming themselves.
Great argument!
Its a really good, interesting topic which does affect a lot of people. The images that you have used are all really relevant to what you are saying and helps emphasize your points as majority of them are quite shocking! Majority of your points I was already aware of, like the Chinese tradition of foot binding and suicide bombing, although I am so shocked reading about the Indian "Baby throwing". It is insane! Your blog was really interesting to read and shows how different each part of the world really is and how seriously cultures take their rituals. Not only because New Zealand doesn't necessarily have such harmful traditions but also because each act you have talked about are to widely different but all just as devastating to hear about. You have done a really good job writing this and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
ReplyDeleteWow this was a really interesting opinion piece. I like how you showed a somewhat balanced perspective by showing different cases from around the world. I also thought the photos were highly effective in conveying to an outsider, the barbaric nature of these acts.
ReplyDeleteAnd I learnt something new, because I didn't know about the baby-throwing or the exorcism that happened in the 70s.
Also, it made me think about female and male circumcision which happens in countries throughout the world, unfortunately, to children and babies who are too young to understand and agree to it. :/
DeleteI also considered using the genital stories, however, I decided against it because I thought it might be a bit too much to write about, in regards to explaining what it is. If I had included it I also would have to add the images for shock-value, which I wasn't sure the lecturers would be too happy about.
thanks for the comment Lucy =)