Episode 4.32: Conservatism of all kinds insists on backwards compatibility, even to ancient texts.

Any prevailing culture holds the whip hand over anything that is new by dictating what is to be regarded as “normal”. It is therefore in a position to suppress anything new that appears to be abnormal in the name of backwards compatibility. Extreme examples insist that we continue to live in deference to texts, creeds, writings, “scriptures” that are thousands of years old and systems of belief and practice that have evolved from them. Anything new threatens these ideological monopolies and those with vested interests in them. Attitudes to the status of women, LGBT and transgender issues are coloured by this reverence for the past and the assumption that humankind has lost its Paradise rather than being on a journey that works towards, defines and creates it by becoming ever more tolerant and inclusive and so more diverse.