Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Your browser has JavaScript disabled. Enable JavaScript on your browser for most GaiaOnline features to work correctly.

View User's Journal

Report This Entry Subscribe to this Journal

	Randomness
	Randomness

	Random thoughts
	Random thoughts


So I got to thinking about people and the hows and the why's Why am I so different than my brother when we grew up in the same family? We had many of the same opportunity's and we had a few differences. My parents paid for his college, I had to pay for it myself. Years later, he completely shut himself off from life. He doesn't want help at all for his chronic illness. He loathes our family, including me yet continues to live in my house. How much of circumstance really makes you and how much control over your own life do you have? Do social and outside influences sway the way you would act or would it affect the decisions you would have to make on a day to day basis? When does circumstance become a valid reason for something and when is it just an excuse? I read an article in pursuit of this vein of thought and found this. Source Quote: If this is the case, then why do people act differently under identical circumstances and faced with the same incentives? Consider the following example (in Tyler Cowen’s new book): until 2002, UN diplomats enjoyed immunity from parking violations in New York. Between the end of 1997 and 2002, these diplomats accounted for 150,000 violations. On one extreme were those who parked in illegal spaces and failed to pay their fines. Kuwait had 246 unpaid tickets per diplomat, whilst Egypt, Sudan, Mozambique, Angola, Senegal and Pakistan all had hundreds of unpaid tickets. On the other hand, some diplomats always paid their fines. They came from Norway, Sweden, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, England and Japan. The diplomats were all in the same circumstance of having the immunity to park where they wished and to decide whether or not to pay any resulting tickets. The differences stemmed from the values and culture each brought from their home nation. Diplomats hailing from countries where corruption leads to irresponsible behavior generally failed to pay their fines. Jayce Reinhardt · Mon Nov 17, 2008 @ 03:41pm · 6 Comments


Jayce Reinhardt Community Member «Prev \| Next» Archive \| Home [05/26/15 05:13pm] [05/20/15 12:07am] [05/11/15 01:19pm] [05/07/15 04:44am] [04/28/15 12:49am] [04/27/15 03:47pm] [04/26/15 02:45am] [04/17/15 01:50pm] [04/14/15 01:22am] [04/11/15 06:42pm]

	User Comments: [6]
	User Comments: [6]


	I'm actually reading the article you linked right now. haha. I really don't know. Environment is one of the factors, but hereditary stuff too. There are so many little factors it's ridiculous, and even if people grew up in the same environment they can still end up being very different. I really don't know how it works, but I have been reading as much as I can about it, because this is something that really interests me, as you know already. xD I must be weird myself, my sisters and I are so different it's weird, but somehow we generally can still get along. It wasn't like that in high school of course. At this point, it's pretty much, yes, it CAN be an excuse, and it works, but people think differently and some really can just choose to be different. It's a simple 'mind of matter'-type of thing. You can always say, 'yes, my family is like that, but I refuse to be like that'. People have a hard time trying to be different then that, and while a lot do 'seem' to fail it is indeed possible. I think I am rambling now... but maybe you get what I mean? Offline Alexander Linden · Community Member · Mon Nov 17, 2008 @ 07:17pm


	I get what you mean, I just like to think things to death until I find an answer that satisfies me. Offline Jayce Reinhardt · Community Member · Mon Nov 17, 2008 @ 07:36pm


	How much of circumstance really makes you and how much control over your own life do you have? I feel that the circumstances do not control the way you see life, only you can. There is also always more than one choice in a decision. You will pick the one that is most in your nature and possible for you... that's how I feel. Do social and outside influences sway the way you would act or would it affect the decisions you would have to make on a day to day basis? I've always gone with this idea that "you" are a core and with events and people, you can find a touch of the core....I kind of think that this core is what you can and cannot do.... like your morals. So, I think that when you are young, these morals are found somehow (through a parent, or an event that changes you profoundly, through religion, through friends). The older you get, the less the core can change... you become "set" in a "self." So, the circumstances you are in can't change "you" but I do believe that it can be a fine line difference between one decision and another. When does circumstance become a valid reason for something and when is it just an excuse? Circumstance is never a valid reason... don't blame circumstance for something. There is always another choice. Mind you, it may not be an EASIER choice, but it's there.... Offline lnk1001 · Community Member · Mon Nov 17, 2008 @ 11:04pm


	Well, this is a question that's plagued me for years. I'm going to try and not be bias when thinking about this one. If you took two people with the exact same body - eliminate physical/genetic influence. And with the same family, opportunities, environment. And allowed the only differences they experienced to be cultural, would they grow into the same person no matter what, or would they make different choices and turn into two different people? And -could- they become different people - how much of a choice would they have given different cultures? Say that one copy of this person was given the chance to get a job/college/etc easily. Would they choose to take the job/college/etc? And say the other copy of the person wasn't given a chance to get a job/collge/etc. Would they sit back with what they had, or would they choose to go and fight to get the job/college/etc? Knowing that either choice wouldn't hinder their life or anyone else's in any way, they still have their basic necessities met and nobody depends or is tied to their decisions. The only circumstance influencing their choice would be cultural, their environment. And the job/college in question is their dream job, they both want the job/college equally. Now say that the first person's culture frowned on the job/college/etc that was placed before him. People in his environment/culture would frown on him, and keep telling him to go for something else. And say that the second person's culture smiled greatly on the job/college/etc he wanted. Would the first person take the job/college handed to them anyway? And would the second person fight to get this job/college, or settle for something less/easier? The only consequence being the way their culture reacts to them and their decision? Basically, for an example, say that the job in question was a Yakuza/gang type position. The first person's culture being American; they want the job, and it was handed/offered to them easily, but their culture would shun them if they took it. And say that the second person's culture was Japanese; they want the job, but would have to work and fight to get it, and their culture would smile on them. Or they could settle for an ordinary job at Sony. Say the first person chooses to take the job/college/etc that was handed to them. Their culture shuns them, but it is the job they wanted. Time goes on, and eventually they regret taking this job/college/etc. The fact that their culture shunned them worsens this. In fact, it may be that the culture's frowning was the thing that made them regret it in the first place. Would they blame the fact that this was the only thing they were -given-, that nothing else was presented to them? Would that be a crutch/excuse? They could have fought for a safer, more acceptable job/college/etc, but that would have required effort. And it wouldn't have been what they wanted at the time, they wouldn't have been happy then, only their culture would have been happy. I personally couldn't say. I think i'm too bias on this one. Yes, maybe it would be. - - - Now, say that the person did choose to search for a safer, more acceptable job/college/ect. They refused what was handed to them. Put the effort forth to go for something different. But the job/college they took isn't what they wanted. They aren't happy. But their culture accepts them. Do they blame their culture for taking away something that would have made them happy? They could have taken the position they wanted, but risk running through the same end as Option One. Is it a crutch that hey blame their cultural circumstances? If they had the culture of Person Two, would things be different? Would they be a different person? In the end, it seems this person loses either way. I personally think blaming their culture/environment either way would -not- have been a crutch/excuse. As for the second person. Say that they take an easier, safer job/college. Something less than they wanted. They decide not to fight for the position that they wanted, which is smiled upon by their culture. Everybody in their culture/environment keeps telling them to make an effort to go for the job/college/etc in question instead. Time goes on, and they are sad over their decision. They wish they had fought harder. They blame their circumstances/environment for not giving them the job/college/etc that they wanted. Is this a crutch? They could have fought harder, even though they didn't have to. Nothing stopped them aside from extended effort, and doubt that they may or may not have been able to get the position in the end even if they did try for it, they worried that they would have ended up in a worse off position if they had failed. Again, I can't say whether or not blaming it would be a crutch/excuse. Yes, maybe it would be. - - - Now, say that the person decided to fight and struggle to get the position in question. Their culture smiles on them. They have the job that they wanted at the time. Time goes on, and the job takes them in deeper and deeper, putting them into more and more danger. Eventually, they get injured and are on their death bed. They regret choosing to go for this position for whatever reasons. Do they blame their culture for influencing them to go for this position? If they had been born into a culture/environment that urged them to go for something safer, would they have made a different choice? And would they have become a different person? Was it their culture that made them want this position in the first place, or was it them as a core? They could have gone for something safer and easier, nobody made them fight for this position, but they wouldn't have been happy. Is blaming their culture/environment a crutch? I personally think blaming their circumstances would -not- have been a crutch/excuse. Humans are a social species. We're meant to reflect and absorb our culture/environment/circumstances. We -could- all choose to do something completely different, but again, we're born to be social, not solitary. It's in us, we can't be blamed if we 'give in' to the world and people around us. It's one of the things that allows us to grow. How trapped by circumstances are we? How much do circumstances shape us? How much does the core of us as people matter in the end? At what point should one blame their core self, or blame their circumstances? ..Hell if I know. Offline edaaz · Community Member · Tue Nov 18, 2008 @ 04:42am


	I agree with you that Humans are meant to be social and you have totally succeeded in confusing me all the more, I like that you gave me a lot to think about though. That being said I wonder how social you can really be locked in a room most of the time only getting out for work or to use the bathroom for three hours at a time. I know he used to go to the bookstore but since he doesn't talk to us we just don't know. I hope he still does, I hope he has at least one friend, I also hope he does something that makes him happy. He won't go to the hospital and I continue to wonder how he can exist on all that boxed, dried food, He never even uses the kitchen. His OCD is only getting worse, not better but my parents keep saying you can't force him. I've seen news reports and articles about how family members CAN make other family members get help. He hates all of us but does that mean I can watch him dying like that? He hasn't been happy for a long long time but at the risk of opening up that Pandora's box I'll leave it as things left unsaid.. Offline Jayce Reinhardt · Community Member · Tue Nov 18, 2008 @ 02:40pm


	Quite the Philosopher, Jayce...x Offline XxPrincessZeexX · Community Member · Tue Nov 18, 2008 @ 05:59pm

	User Comments: [6]
	User Comments: [6]

Offline

More Information

© Copyright 2003 - 2024 Gaia Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.