Formalities

About a month ago, I was getting ready to go to my last debate tournament. Although I enjoy debate, there's a couple of things about it I just can't stand. One of them, of course, is the tie.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind wearing "nice clothes". But a tie just crosses the line. Its uncomfortable and dangles all over the place. I've frequently referred to them as "stylized nooses". Now, I don't see what exactly makes wearing a length of cloth tied in a noose-like fashion about your neck "formal". For that matter, I don't understand why exactly anything is considered formal. What exactly makes ties formal? What makes coats and jackets formal? What makes putting the salad fork on the outside left of the plate, (with the bread plate and butterknife slightly to the left and up) formal?
I'm not sure. Somewhere back down the line, I'm positive (hope) there's a perfectly logical reason. But that reason doesn't really matter anymore, does it? For whatever reason, ties are formal. If you want to show that you're trying to put on your best face, you wear one. That's just the way things are.
I remember in 9th guide, way back when, the teacher likened the creation of social norms to a bunch of monkeys surrounding a banana. Problem is, whenever a monkey touched the banana, all the monkeys would receive a shock. Naturally, the monkeys soon learned to not touch the banana, even if they all wanted to. When one monkey is taken out and replaced with a fresh monkey who doesn't know the rules, he'll of course reach for the banana. The other monkeys, knowing that reaching for the banana causes pain, will stop the new monkey. This new monkey will then learn that he is not supposed to reach for the banana, without knowing the reason why. If you continually replace old monkeys with new ones, this pattern will extend, and soon you will have a bunch of monkeys who don't do what they want to (touch the banana) without knowing the reason why.