Category: Let's talk
OK, I usually don't do these things, because I loathe what-if games, but I'll make an exception. Imagine you wake up one day, and everyone who is different from you is changed into somebody just like you. All over the world, everyone is identical to you, in looks, in beliefs, in culture, everything, just like you. No more having to put up with people with funny accents, strange ways, or people who are fatter, uglier, or just not as cool as you. Now, everyone is identical to you in every way, and life is Paradise, or is it? Well, is it or isn't it?
While I enjoy being with friends who like the same kinds of music, enjoy the same movies and TV shows, have the same sense of humor, like the same restaurants, etc. as me, I imagine all that sameness would get boring after the novelty of it wore off.
Good question.
At first glance I thought, kind of cool. But, after some reflection, I think it would be very (I do mean very) boreing. You couldn't say anything that the other people hadn't thought of, and there wouldn't be any new ideas to stemulate creativity.
In short, you wouldn't have asked this question because I hadn't thought of it.
Bob, or is it Godzilla-On-Toast, or Buckeye Fan, or Fse123, or ...
Not cool at all. Most of the times I can't even put up with myself I can't even start to think of putting up with others just lime me. In all seriousness though, one of the things that makes this world pretty cool is the fact that their are so many different people we may not like all of them but yeah.
My first thought when I read Godzilla's post was, "Wow, how incredibly boring!" it would be. Yeah sure, I wouldn't have to deal with getting frustrated with some people, but at the same time, the old cliche rings true. Variety is the spice of life. It'd be really boring if we had a world like Godzilla described. It sounds like we'd all be some kind of Borg drones, for you Star Trek TNG fans out there.
So you're bored, eh? Well, let's add a little backstory for perspective. Let's take a look at yesterday. Oh, my my! You weren't a very nice person at all! As you were on your way to your work, you passed by a homeless person and you did what you always do when you see one of them, yelled at them to just go get a goddamn job. At your work, you were teamed up with a new person who not only was overweight but had some rather not-so-pretty facial features and you kept on staring and you just wished that person would go on a diet and get some plastic surgery done. She wondered why you seemed rather unfriendly and stand-offish. At lunchtime, while with your usual group of friends, you went on a boisterous rant about how people come to America and refuse to assimilate and how much of an inconvenience and a bother it was to you, being the majority and all. The rest of the day you had a hard time working because you built yourself a nice little headache thinking about how there were so many people that were so alien to you and how you couldn't stand it and why the hell didn't they just get over themselves and just become like you were. After work, you were invited out to the local bar for a relaxing little drink or two to unwind, but you refused because one of them was African-American and you figured you had nothing in common, and one of them was blind, and well, what if they fell while at the bar and made you responsible and sued you for it, and besides, the concept of blindness just scared you pretty badly, and the third person was gay and it just made you feel oogy, so you refused and just went home and still nursing your headache, went and hid under the covers of your bed until this magical morning. And now that you got your wish, now that everyone assimilated and accomodated themselves to you, you say you're bored? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Whatever shall we do now?
Life will never be like paradise on this earth if we keep behaving the way we do. Twice this year I've been called a wetback, and I still can't understand why words such as these make me so angry. Let me just tell you that had it not been for my blindness then I'd most likely be sitting in prison right now if you know what I mean. Sure some of you will think that I'm sensitive or extreme and you'll probably make some reference about it here, but until you've experienced the hatred that exists in our world you'll never know just how hurtful it is. There are people who've been taught to hate their own race and to hate their own culture, and they even believe that they need to think, act, dress, etc a certain way because their own identity is shameful. But I've never thought of racism as having something to do with diversity or with human weakness. I still can't understand it but if anybody here thinks they know why some people go out of their way to add such hurtful words into all languages, then please explain here. Can somebody please teach me how to not feel such words because the poisonous emotions that arise when I'm verbally assaulted by a racist seem to run through me just as though I'd turned on the faucet. lol Oh yeah, and a confused christian once told me that racism is something that human beings need and that it has been a part of life since the tower of babel. How stupid is that? "If God permitted it, then most likely he meant for it to be like this." Ha!
I'd hate it.
Even wanting this,is the very worst kind of arrogance.
"We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts, to nurture, to offer, to accept." Differences are what make the world the way it is. Harmful, words and actions may be, but it would really suck if we were exactly alike. Anyone ever read the book by Madeleine L'Engle called A Wrinkle In Time? There's a chapter in there that describes a world in which everyone is alike. Even their schedules are set for them. scary thought
I'm certainly no innocent. I've made a snide comment or two in my time, but usually try to be fairly open to things. Sometimes I succeed better than others. I've had to learn a lot, especially during my college years, about appreciating those who were different from me. However, I would never have gained that learning if there weren't people who are different from me in the first place. I know I have more to learn, so I'm glad there are people in the world who can teach me, whether they know they're doing it or not.
Part of life is the differences that people bring to the table, for better or for worse. And you can learn from those who have different views, interests, backgrounds, and talents than you do. it's enriching. sometimes. sometimes it's a headache and can annoy the hell out of you but that's part of life as well.
I'm going to be blunt. People want outhers to be like them in every way possible and others want a variety, Well I only have one thing to say to that. like and equal are not the same despite what you might think
oh and to your question of whether it is paridis or, is it? My answer to that question is, for all of you people who have read A Wrinkle In Time it is IT and that would not be fun at all and you know what I mean. I don't like the idea of total control. too much like a dictator ship.
I read a wrinkle in time, and I'd hate our world to be like that.
Either I'm getting confusing or contradictory responses, else there's a double standard staring me in the face. And yes, I know people are full of those pesky double standards. Now, I need your help in figuring this out, so let me see if I can break this down. So, there is an understanding that it is wrong to be different. People get teased, beat up and even killed merely for not fitting some idea of how people are supposed to be. Now, if we take away the difference, you say you would be bored? You say it would be like being under the spell of the computer hive mind called IT? Yeah, I read the book. And yet, if you had people who weren't like you around, you'd say that's OK, even though you understand that something either in society or in human nature commands that being diffferent is not desirable. I know some folks are trying to go against this trend and have finally realized that difference is OK and interesting. However, too many others don't believe that and still stubbornly stick to their old ways. So if eliminating difference is boring but having difference around is wrong, what do people want. Do they need different people around so they can have somebody to feel superior to or make an enemy of in order to have a cheap way to feel worthy without actually doing something worthwhile? Is diversity something that looks good as a concept but people just would rather not have it in their neighborhood? Pick your brain and let's see what you think.
G-O-T I thought you knew better than this, in fact, I think you do.
What you suffer from is stark generalization, my unsufferable friend.
In your universe people are either totally like you or totally unlike you. Not never ever true.
People in the real world have certain characteristics like us (two arms or one head [quit smirking] and they weep they laugh, they have heroic moments and loathsome moments). In short, they have similarities and dissimilarities. That's why we get along, and that's why we fight.
So, no more stark generalizations about the real world and you'll have no more confusion.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled fantasy.
Bob
Fantasy!
Ahh come on now, Time to Wake-Up.smile
Coffee?
~*Thunderous MidNight*~
ahh showering of buckets of..coffee mate non-dairy creamer
..back to fantasy..smile
~Imagine everyone as a Lightning Bolt~
I think it would be boring who would you be able to discuss topics and not have a disagreement, you couldn't try different things like music, books ETC. hell I wouldn't want another me anyway LOL!
Actually I would like to be around myself for a few hours or maybe even a day. I would like to know how others perceive me while still being able to make up my own mind about myself. After all ego is nothing more than the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. I think I have all these nice qualities, thoughts, ideas, and I think I am a kind person. To be able to watch myself and then decide as an outside observer might be fun.
Nem
Nem, never thought about that but yeah that might be neat.
But Bob, consider that thought experiments require you to suspend your disbelief, right? You might want to give post 6 another read and maybe you can tell me why our character was either put off by or annoyed by or had made-up reasons why to reject just about everyone he met that day. I don't think it was just one of those random bad days.
Right you are again g-o-t. I fear that I tended to sluff off your example in post 6 in my earlier post without true reflection. I agree that it wasn't just a bad day for our hero. He/she is suffering from a horrible self concept.
As Socrates is supposed to have said, "the unexamined life is not worth living." In this case, it seems the unexamined self is not worth meeting.
I agree with Nim in post 19 that it would be interesting to meet myself for a short while, but would find it boring to live with myself all the time. However, isn't that what we do every day and night? In our minds the ego rules. The "I" that makes each of us unique is constantly bombarding us with messages to bolster ourselves. Freud called this the id. "I want", "I hate", "I'm so ...".
Because of this id we find it hard to admit aspects of ourselves that might be unflattering. You might think of the id as the biological us. "I'm hungry", "I'm horny", "I'm tired".
We also have a perception of ourselves as it is reflected in society: the superego. This is where we hand out the "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts" of the world around us. These are the dictates taught us by our mothers, our teachers and our governments. "Nice people don't eat off of other peoples plates." "It's not nice to masturbate in public." "You should stay awake during the meeting at work."
According to Freud, putting all these contradictory messages together is the ego, the conscious self, the person we think we are, the person you want us to meet.
Our hero in post 6 appears to be suffering from an over active superego. He/she has an over abundance of messages from society saying "it's not good to be different."
However, I'm not convinced that our hero would be bored. I think he/she would be perfectly happy in a fantasy world where everyone around him/her would be so oh-so normal.
What do you think?
Bob
Whew, you made some interesting points, but that's quite a lot of Freud in one post! Hahahaha, it's all good, though. But anyhow, I s'pose after some 22 posts I should perhaps tell you what motivated this post. See, I'm one of those folks who observes the way people act, and I swear, people seem so hostile or resentful or fearful of anyone just for being different, or people don't want to be seen as different. So I figure that if you were to take people and strip away all that programming that makes us all civilized and all, you'd have nothing but those primal reptile desires and one of those would be to want to be around those who are similar or identical to yourself. Civilization says treat people with respect no matter who or what, but we still let those caveman bits through and the caveman bits make us want to beat up and torture and terrorize people just for being themselves. This is especially true if you see yourself as a majority or the type of person everybody is supposed to strive to be. The fat kid gets beat up for being fat, the geeks and nerds get their assorted humiliations, people rant and rail on about how immigrants come to this country and have the nerve not to just blend in for the comfort and convenience of the majority. Homosexuals and Lesbians get mistreated for being who they are, and blind people fear being seen as different by the general public, because despite civilization, society says if you are different, you are something to be ashamed of or bad or wrong.