In Response to Megan Cooney's Question

Okay, the quesiton is, "We idolize actors and athletes, but we search so hard for a scandal to bring them down. By doing so, are we just trying to bring down the people we have idolized so high?"

Whether it be actors, athletes, or any wealthy and known person, we as humans tend to idolize people...put them on a pedestal. We have a habit of caring too greatly about the images and lives of famous people. We place them on their pedestal and, to touch on the end part of Megan's question, we appear to expect them to stay on that pedestal. If a celebrity does not act in a way that is expected of them, it can anger the general population, causing rumor and scandal.

So, we do attempt to "bring down" the people that we idolize when scandal and societal anger prevail. The anger and jealous desire for money and fame along with unexpected actions and thoughts form those celebrities that are idolized, is the driving force for the downward fall of some actors, athletes, etc.

Question...that jealous anger that we sometimes feel toward the wealthy is a vile thing. What does that example say about humans? Can/does jealousy control us?

In Response to Bryan's Question

Bryan posed the question, "Do you think that the Human sense of self causes problems within society?"

People do tend to regard their own needs and wants before those of others. I think that though we would like to believe that people have eachothers interests at heart, it is more likely that people have a greater sense of self than a sense of society. Society can band together as has been seen with relief efforts like the recent events for Haiti, but it seems to take a great disaster for people to put their own self and interests aside and help those in need.

This does cause problems within society as it takes something horrible happening to bring people together...otherwise saying that we wait for things to deteriorate and get worse before we fix them.

My question is...can a person who has their own sense of self and and their family in mind, resent others who may be more fortunate than them?

About that Communism...

Marx's beliefs on the eventual development of the communist state are, to a degree, basic but are they really valid and/or realistic given our history on this earth? The poor get sick of the rich holding power, they overthrow them, then the poor run the show and everyone is happy. Would this really work? Wouldn't there be someone in that group of previously poor people that would want all the power to themselves? Isn't this how most governments were founded? the underdogs take over and create rules and laws and then...they become the powerful and the whole cylce starts over. It appears that the perpetuation of this situation is inevitable and that Marx's idea is more wishful thinking than anyting else.

So, considering the past history of the entire existence of human beings, aren't we just going in a giant circle?

In Response to Megan Cooney's Question

Megan posed the question, "Why, do you think, parents will sometimes go to the extremes of either overprotecting their child and giving into every demand of their child?"

From perceiving different families as well as my own, I have seen that parents under discipline and over discipline their children for a multitude of reasons. When I was younger I was somewhat of a spoiled child though I never expected or asked for much. I believe that it was becuase of this that my parents saw fit to spoil me a bit. However, I know that this is not the same for all people. I have heard of some parents spoiling their children because they, as children, were never given much or were over disciplined. There are also those who were raised in a strict home and therefore pass that strictness on to their own children. I think there is a range in the spectrum of why parents vary in the extremes of the discipline of their children but I do believe that how parents protect/spoil/control their children is a direct result of how they themselves were raised.

So, my question is...If a person is spoiled throughout their childhood does that mean that they are going to act spoiled in adulthood? What of the other extreme?

In Response to Nicole's Question

On her blog, Nicole posed the question, "Can someone believe they are unhappy when really they are?" after discussing the idea of false happiness.

I believe that this is one of those "you don't realize what you have until you've lost it" situations. People can go on thinking that they aren't happy and fulfilled until they experience a loss of some kind and figure out that they miss what they lost and did not realize that they enjoyed what they did have until it was taken from them. Do I believe that people can believe that they are unhappy when, in reality, they really are? No. I believe that people hold the means to make their happiness and that it takes those means being lost to realize what happiness the person could have had. To me, it is like what was said in class, you must make your own happiness.

So my question...since outside/external things (machines, games, books, etc.) can cause fake happiness among people through their influence then, can children/infants be the ones that are truly happy as they are not fully affected by external things?

Depression

In class the idea of the happiness machine and false happiness was discussed. There was mention that if somene seeks happiness from a machine or a game system or even books then they are not actually gaining true happiness as they are instilling their feelings on a false world. It was then said that the only way to truly be happy is to find happiness in oneself.

So, what I am wondering about is how that works for people with clinical depression. Not depression because their dog just died but a continuous depression that comes and goes. Would someone who takes medication for their clinical depression be experiencing false happiness? If they can not make themselves happy then does someone with that kind of depression ever experience true happiness?

I know what I believe so, what do you believe?