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Marwou Dirieh
ENGL 101
Maria Fraus
Human Nature: Traditions
The human species is very diversified since they moved from Africa. They settled in the
mainland, adapted, evolved and created nations; each of them has their own culture and naturally
follows their own traditions. These practices are made to help them in daily life and to reassure,
but they can be double-edged. Humans naturally honor traditions even they are destructives.
To begin, the faith over a tradition can provoke brainwashing. A good example is “The
Lottery” by Sherry Jackson. In this story, an annual ritual, the lottery, is celebrated in a small
town in U.S. “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” for crops. The winner is getting stoned by the
entire town. The day of the lottery the ambiance in town was easy going, and kids were happily
collecting stones for the future victim. When all adult got united, and the lottery box was brought
by the mayor the tension had become so intense that it seemed almost tangible. As the crowd
waited, a man told about a county who stopped the lottery, and the man next to him was shocked.
The Lottery is celebrated in other counties, and the fact than a county had stopped this practice
show they understand the risk incurred. The reaction of the man proved their blind faith. At the
end Tessie, a person who did not care about the lottery was selected. She was stoned by her
friends, husband and kids who lost their free will lamenting about the unfairness of the situation.
As well as, traditions do not resolve all problems, and the case of Armadeep Sada is proof.
This eight-year-old-boy has killed three persons, and got arrested after his last victim Kushboo.
His mom had finally decided to call the police because Kushboo was not part of the family, and
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it was the straw that broke the camel. He had killed his six-month-old cousin; his eight-monthold sister; and Kushboo the neighbor’s daughter ( six-month) “An uncle of Sada’s told local
media that the earlier two killings had been known to the family and some villagers, but had not
been reported since it was considered a "family matter".” (Foster). In India, there is a tradition
that family should resolve the problem by themselves and encourage by the wavering of his
family and the passivity of the villagers, “At his village, residents have started calling him a
“mini” serial-killer” (Foster). He had continued his macabre actions. This passivity can be
explained by The Bullying Experiment where people just ignore someone who is getting beaten
on the street. This shows that they do not want to be involved in these problems for their own
sake to ensure their safety and the tradition. At the end, he will not pay for his crime. If
someone had called the police, after the first victim, two could have been saved and discovered
life. The respect of tradition can have extreme consequences.
In other words, people use traditions and get manipulated for their advantage. Leadership
form a dancing guy who shows the charisma of leader in a music festival when a guy probably
intoxicated began to dance in a ridicule way, and after few minutes all of the surrounding
people went dancing with him. This kind of charisma is used to take advantage of the event.
The principle is to take advantage of all inconvenient of the ritual. One of the biggest tradition
for Muslim is the Hajj that should be do once in lifetime. Hajj is an annual Pilgrimage to Mecca
that is located in Saudi Arabia. Recently over the years, the ticket price included the stay has
madly gone up. “The low-cost Hajj for 2015 will run someone a minimum of $800 and up to
$1,350, a price mandated by the Saudi hajj ministry” (Lorenzetti). The low cost can be very
dangerous with hotel of bad quality, no access to medical support, transportation, sometime no
AC and tents. Tents are very important because during the ritual the temperature can go up to
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122 F or more. People get sick and need to rest otherwise they can die. The best option is to
look carefully for a good camp, and a good company that would find for you. This tradition
became the second source of income after oil in Saudi Arabia. Also, this trip is very dangerous.
In 2015 700-800 people died (Lorenzetti). There is where the charisma is going to be used one
of the high rank Iman, that can be considered like cardinal, who encourage other to engage
themselves in this adventure, disbursing the economy of a lifetime. Pilgrims are being used to
make money with the price of the ticket and the visa. Namely the pressure of the loving ones,
the danger, the fact that they are going to accomplish a duty, and they attract them like magnet
by other action.
To conclude, traditions are harmful by brainwashing to make people believe, act in
illogical and inhuman way or give the illusion that everything can be resolved, but left to
extreme consequences. They are used to make people marionette.
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Word Cited
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery". You Tube, Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation,
uploaded by Chef Jay, 27 Sep 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQQoMCaUz5y.
"Leadership From A Dancing Guy". You Tube, uploaded by Michael Hughs, 12 Jun 2010.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO8MwBZI-Vc.
"The Bullying Experiment". You Tube, uploaded by fouseyTUBE, 1 Dec 2013,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisZTB42QxY.
Foster,Peter “Amardeep SADA” Murderpedia, uploaded by Juan Ignacio Blanco 3 Jun 2017,
https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sada-amardeep.htm
Lorenzetti,Laura“Here’s how much it can cost to attend the Hajj” Fortune, 24 Sept 2015,
https://fortune.com/2015/09/24/hajj-pilgrimage-cost/
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