To be sure, the preservation of past traditions helps us to have an identity, gives our lives meaning and helps to define and preserve the best of what was. These things are all important and should be a part of your training. As a new nation we gained our own identity and embraced our own ideals, but managed to retain what was best from our past. Most of our legal system, religions and the traditions we hold most dear are directly linked to our roots in Europe and Asia. Yes, we wanted the freedom to govern ourselves, but we did not want to destroy all that was good in the traditions of the past.
Grandmasters are of the same breed as our freedom seeking forefathers.
They are not the harbingers of doom, working to destroy the foundations of the civilized world, just people with a different idea of how things should work. Some instructors, as well as, editorial writers would have us believe that those who teach their own systems are all a bunch of fraudulent renegades, who having really just learned the basics about the system they were studying, decided that they knew better than their instructors and fabricated a haphazard system which is laughable at best. Of course if this were the case then the ranks they use would also be fraudulent. Some go as far as telling people seeking instruction to avoid anyone holding high rank in any art for they are most likely charlatans out to defraud the public and take their money. Let's grow up folks.