dogma

recently had some discussions, debates with my friends... these were quiet chilled out, and open... stereotypes, what's acceptable and not in today's degrading morale standards, who's a freak in a society, and who are all to blame etc. were some topics opined on freely without worrying about political correctness...

i was stuck by the impact of culture in childhood era, in each one of these opinions... exposure to role models (or in general, other people around them) also seem to leave imprint like beliefs.
there seems to be a growth in rigidity (difficulty in questioning long held beliefs/opinions, and lack of willingness to even listen to new concepts/ideas/opinions... forget trying to learn anew.

for example, a vegetarian from birth, expresses disgust and inability to even think of eating non-vegetarian food... sometime to extend of inability to eat if a non-veg food is near their table.
a non-veg food eater expresses same/similar emotions/effects, when asked about a type of meat (such as pork or cow meat - pork not eaten by muslims, cow meat not eaten by hindu's etc).

i've heard similar strong opinions about various issues.. as if those opinions are 'gods word'... few of these opinions categorized as:-
homosexuality - as a menace to society in general,
gender equality - women should not be given so much liberties/equal status,
casteism - where some or one caste is seen as superior,
racism - degrading blacks (as per their own terminology), even tho the opinion makers wouldn't have met many african descendants, except few cursory glances across the street, that too just on enough occassions to be able to count in fingers.
religion and existence of god/s - and also about un-natural powers of some cult guru
and so on...

one person might hold a logical/rational/scientific view about some aspects, and also hold illogical/irrational/non-scientific views about some other aspects... often these become contradictory... but the beliefs accultured during childhood age (maybe even upto 20 years of age... kinda become foundational structure...

i find this contradictions, and need to have myths to have an identity amazing.
if you have anything to share, please do comment... ;)