On change

I consider myself a relatively progressive person and often end up in (friendly) arguments with more conservative minded people. There is typically a nationalist element to conservatism in the sense that they want to preserve local culture. However, what is considered their culture to be preserved is often exclusively determined by the time in which the person was raised.

Take European food for example. The tomato and potato originated in South America and were therefore not part of European cuisine, pre Columbus. Many forms of pasta are thought to be brought from China by Marco Polo. Food that is considered quintessentially Italian such as pasta with tomato’s was therefore unheard of in Italy 500 years ago. However, conservatives raised in contemporary Italy will likely want to preserve pasta with tomato’s, because this is part of the Italy in which they grew up. The bottom line is that food has been changing constantly the last 100.000 years and therefore choosing the 'correct' food as the food you had when you grew up is a bit arbitrary.

Another example is language. In The Netherlands there are more and more complaints about the influx of English into the Dutch language. Groups are being formed to protect the 'true' Dutch. However, Dutch is a language containing countless words borrowed from Latin during the reign of Rome, from French during Napoleon's occupation and from neighboring countries such as Germany and England. Just like food, language has been changing constantly the last 100.000 years and therefore choosing the 'correct' language as the language during the time which you grew up seems a bit arbitrary.

To be truly 'conservative' you could argue you should applaud change, as change has always been around. To keep things the way they were, change should stay. Then again, people who fought change have probably always been around as well. Perhaps to keep things the way they were, we need to have progressives arguing with conservatives.