What do you think when you hear the phrase "traditional values"?

[Karthak]

Those two words seem to be very popular at the moment in many countries around the world. What do they mean to you? Do they represent something positive, or like me, are you reminded of this paragraph from a Terry Pratchett book:

"He knew about "concerned citizens". Wherever they were, they all spoke the same private language, where "traditional values" meant ?hang someone?."

Because honestly, whenever I encounter those words, it always seems to be in the context of denying some civil right to a minority.

 

[Barbas]

"Dead people's baggage", in the vast majority of cases.

 

[JoJo]

I usually associate them with a sex-negative attitude, 'traditional values' usually seems to mean a traditional Christian or Islamic view on sexuality: no sexy times until marriage with a member of the opposite sex. If people want to do that then I'm absolutely fine with that as long as they don't try to legally enforce their values on other people.

 

[Vegosiux]

Well, to change the course a little and not say the obvious, I'll say the Bushido code.

Captcha: Hulk smash.
No, go home, Hulk, anger induced smashing is not the way of the warrior!

 

[sanquin]

When I hear "traditional values" I understand "Afraid of change". It's fine to be against change, if you can properly explain why you're against it. But people that say "traditional values" they usually have factually unsound reasons why they want to adhere to them.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I generally think of the religious right's understanding of what is and isn't right.

 

[Queen Michael]

It makes me think of people who stress the importance of making other people live the way they do.

 

[omega 616]

As an almost cult like form of communism (in the sense everybody is the same. Not the political ideal) ... everybody is the same god fearing, heterosexual racist, the man works all day and the woman toils away at house work, raises the kids and has the dinner ready for 6.

Kind of like if Hitler was an unwritten rule, everybody is stuck in a rut but nobody wants to be the first out of it for fear of being social outcasts.

Everybody is qunari, to put it into gamer terms.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Angry, middle aged Japanese men in yukatas chasing Gaijin with katanas.

For a more western version, a fedora-donning salary man, with a hard-working wife who toils all day to get the house clean and dinner served by sex, who raise their children to be "god fearin'" straight people.

Neither is particuarly good. Although the first is more comical. And true in today's modernism.

 

[crotchdot]

In my country those words are most often used by conservative politicians and fundamentalist religious groups to mask their prejudices and refusal to accept that society, just like life, evolves.

 

[Spiridion]

Straight, white, Christian, middle class or better. Also stereotypical gender-conforming. Particularly applies to those who have been raised with a bias (conscious or otherwise) that regards belonging to these categories as the most desirable or "correct" and support maintaining a status quo which upholds their "value."

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I think of 50's white bread middle class folks who old-fashioned standards and values. But that's just me...

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

"traditional values" is a scapegoat. It's a way to rationalize things that just don't make rational sense. That said, there are a lot of non-traditional values that do the same thing.

I don't know, I think it's just one of those terms that I interpret based on context. I don't use it, so I don't have a definition. I let people define it for me; they'll usually do a pretty good job.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I think of 50's white bread middle class folks who old-fashioned standards and values. But that's just me...

Me too. A lot of people seem to view it as an intensely negative thing, but I just thought it meant "morally conservative".

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Usually racism, bigotry, bible bashing, religious nuttery, stupidity...

It's all in the same kettle really.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I think of 50's white bread middle class folks who old-fashioned standards and values. But that's just me...

Me too. A lot of people seem to view it as an intensely negative thing, but I just thought it meant "morally conservative".

It depends on where you grew up. In Australia (and America too i think) it has some generally negative connotations, usually including most types of bigotry and a foot in some religion.

 

[Kevin Puszert]

Generally, when I hear the term "traditional values", my first instinct is to assume someone is selling something.

 

[Strain42]

I think of that black and white photo of who I'm pretty sure is William H. Macy as a 50's man with his 50's wife offering me a plate that MovieBob uses when he discusses such a thing in Big Picture episodes.

 

[Robot Number V]

I think specifically of homophobia, probably because of the phrase "traditional marriage".

It's basically a nice way of saying "I believe this not of logical thought, but because I was raised to believe it."

 

[lunavixen]

When I hear 'traditional values', what I really hear is "we don't want to let go of our obsolete/religious viewpoint. No one gets in our little idealised (and antiquated) bubble!". 'Traditional values' don't hold water in a society as diverse as ours is, maybe 50 years ago it did, but that was before the internet, where information and ideas got to the people with a filter on it, inlike today where information and ideas on everything can be accessed and shared in a heartbeat.

A lot of people seem to view it as an intensely negative thing, but I just thought it meant "morally conservative".

A lot of people have only heard of the negative connotations of the term and it has been twisted over the years.