Taboo.

It has become a dirty word in Western society.

Taboos often seem completely irrational. But a thorough exploration of the origin of any given taboo usually reveals a rational and/or realistic basis for it's origin. In many, if not most instances, the taboo is originally, and for long periods of history, very functional in terms of the survival of the tribe, group, or society. (Rational and reality may be related, but are not synonyms.)   Taboos are nearly always about the over-all well-being of the group instead of the individual. There is reason to believe, that the individual has gained such prominence in Western society in modern times, however, that the survival our species, (and many others) is in jeapardy.

One of the social functions of the institution of religion is to socialize people to accept taboos, then to enforce the taboo.   Taboos are powerful, largely by virtue of irrational acceptance of them on 'moral' grounds, and slow to change once their functionality has become obsolete.

The human race, however, could stand some additional taboos right now, that might make the difference in how long we can survive as a species on this planet. How about taboos around water and resource usage? How about taboos about environmental destruction? Taboos about atomic weapons? Rational thinking that is dependent on self interest, enlightened or otherwise, are clearly not gonna cut the mustard. A bit of irrational, group-think would go a long way in buying us time on this planet.

I'm not advocating. I'm saying think about it. Think long, and hard and deeply about it. Think intelligently about the interdependence of the individual and the group. Think about the realities of globalization. Globalization is/was inevitable as the world population of humans has increased to at or above capacity.