[OT] What is WRONG with people?

[WizarDru]

I don't know if I would call it a pack mentality but I do think the public school system tends to breed a certain "peer" mentality in which children try to identify themselves mainly with others of their own age and seek approval from that "peer group".

Well, I was specifically discussing daycare, which is what the previous poster identifed as a social ill of our times, for some reason.

While I agree that the american school system certainly allows for the propagation of peer groups, I'd hardly lay basic human nature at it's doorstep. Homeschooling is wonderful for those both equipped and inclined to do so (not to mention both temporaly and fiscally able), but is hardly an option for the majority. Home schooling has it's own downsides, of course. I've met homeschooled kids who were socially and emotionally years behind their comrades, and others who were just fine. I've met some homeschooled kids who did not have all the tools they needed to compete at the college level, because they didnt' get some things when they were home-schooled. Not that I'm saying that home-schooling was the direct impetus (any more than the normal system is)...merely pointing out that it's not a universal solution or that it has no drawbacks.

RXD: A Nik Kershaw fan, or you just like that lyric?

 

[Grundle]

Allow me to sum it all up with a few bumper stickers...

Mean People Suck!

$#!% HAPPENS

Come on everybody... group hug! Sheesh, this thread is on the verge of becoming a whine-fest.

There have always been bozos, losers, and jerks and there will always BE bozos, losers and jerks. (At least until human cloning catches on ) Get over it.

And after all, if such behaviors didn't provide a benifit to species survivability they wouldn't still be swimming around in the homo sapien's gene pool, would they?

It is the balance, grasshopper - the Ying & Yang. I mean, didn't any of you guys see the movie, "The Dark Crystal"? And if we didn't have good vs evil what would be the fun in playing D&D?

This Devil's advocate is quickly running out of agitating remarks and must get back to work now.

 

[Lazybones]

An interesting thread on an issue I've been grappling with for a while... thanks guys for some insightful commentary.

Just this morning there was an article in my local paper about a guy who was bicycling and hit not once, but three times by cars. When the medics found him he was partially covered by a blanket, but no one had stopped to seek help--those who had hit him had left him to die.

Someone mentioned the book _Bowling Alone_, which discusses a point raised by an earlier poster, the breakdown in civic participation and community in America in recent decades. It seems to me that the success of boards like this one is the search for people for that sense of community, the connection that so many are lacking with those around them.

Others made comments on another important issue, the issue of holding people accountable for their actions vs. blaming whatever happened to them in their past. I consider myself a liberal and believe that as a society we need to address the root causes of problems rather than just deal with their effects (i.e. spend more on education, preventative health care, jobs programs, etc.). That said, I think that there's too much of a culture of "it's not my fault" that people use to justify either bad behavior or bad results in their lives. I do believe people need to be held responsible for their CHOICES, including the way they choose to act. There was an ER episode, of all things, where Dr. Ross is blasting into his dad for the horrible way he was raised, and all the emotional problems he has as a result, and the dad replies, "Yeah, maybe I was a rotten father, but you're a grown-up now, and I'm not responsible for how you live your life now."

Anyway, thanks again for another great discussion.
LB

 

[Anabstercorian]

Subjective Morality.

I am a moral relativist of sorts - I'd like to defend my position. Just because you believe that there's no such thing as objective morality doesn't mean you can't think that some behaviors aren't just better than others, and it doesn't have to be for darwinistic reasons. I judge moral behavior based on how it increases the net happiness total of the universe. I don't believe in judgement, I believe in correction. Someone does something that causes explosive misery, that's really bad - But that doesn't make them evil.

This has some advantages of its own. First of all, it minimizes the damage you take from alignment based spells. :: Wink :: Second, it allows me to stay emotionally detached from severe tragedy. Third, it keeps anger and rage from getting in the way of pure, simple justice.

Ambivalence for a better tomorrow. Peace out.

 

[reapersaurus]

Just this morning there was an article in my local paper about a guy who was bicycling and hit not once, but three times by cars.

Hey, another Sacramentan!
I heard that report, too.
baffling.

Hey, just a quick thought - do most of you who think everyone sucks deal with a lot of people on a regular basis?

I know that personally, before I started teaching people networking, I kinda thought most people were A-holes, too.

Now that i deal with normal joes on a regular basis, many people, week in week out, I think most people are actually pretty cool.

 

[R.X.DIEM]

RXD: A Nik Kershaw fan, or you just like that lyric?

Both.

 

[Berandor]

Rewards?

I have been rewarded for a good deed more than once.

Aside from the rewards of feeling good and dratitude, that is.

What springs to my mind is when I was 12 years old, in front of our school a family crossed a street and caused a car accident. The family then left the scene.
I followed them. Keeping a certain distance, and one time takiong off my sweater so I looked somehow different (I read detective stories), I followed them until they entered a bus, noting the bus number, time and name of the bus stop.

When I returned and gave the police (and the drivers of the crashed cars) tghe information, the police called in on the bus and they were still aboard.

I got about 5$.

Does that count as reward?

Berandor