You can decide to believe or not to believe on anything be it social, cultural, religious, political so is what you eat. You can do what ever you want, you can eat what ever you like I do not care. For those of you who do not understand the meaning of culture and what is right and wrong I have a suggestion for you. This theory was applied by Gandhiji, I am not a Gandhi fan but I like this idea. There was a time when Gandhi could not decide what was right and what was wrong. Then he decided that what ever he could do and did not have to hide from his mother was a right thing to do. When in doubt about a right or a wrong action he would ask his mother. Along the same line for all of you who do not want to know or know what is culture or what is right or wrong just ask your parents and grand parents. If it is ok with them you are not wrong. This theory goes to eating beef. Go and ask your parents and grand parents if they are still alive and if it is ok with them you can do what ever, even eat beef. >> these cliches are thrown around to satisfy people's underlying hypocrisy and self serving biases. No its not just that. Having said that we do have values placed on us from centuries that benefit some people. Like the Malla rulers of Patan are lower class today (this was forced.) Culture is a complex subject which defines our identity. Krishnamurti once said "..Culture is like mud on flower pot in which a beautiful flower grows". We are defined by our culture, defying these values is defying our existence which will hurt ourselves and future generation.