4th November 2011, 04:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 4th November 2011, 04:15 PM by RedEarth.)
Jack Wrote:I'd say that although that seems a worthy agenda........its also one I apply to myself (when I'm being lazy and thinking that I can't do something and give up)..........I'd probably fall more on the negative side.
We are not all genetically equal. Some will be predisposed towards certain activities.
Equally a lot of a humans ' basic skills ' are taught from a very early age.
Some of these seem to get kinda fixed at a later age.
This further predisposes an individual towards certain skill-sets.
Hmm...that doesn't read like it makes sense. Guess what I'm driving at is humans don't all end up equally able to do all tasks and whereas 'anyone can '...try to...'do pretty much anything they want given enough opportunity and training'. Some will find it a breeze and others will just not get it.
There does seem to be a limited number of people who seem to be able to do almost anything with ease though..........but I suspect that is a function of their upbringing and a genetic predisposition.
Some of this also seems to be down to 'social programming'. Many people wont do or try certain things as they see it as 'not what everyone else does'. Driving at 30mph in a 30 zones comes to mind.
I classify people into two crude categories......those that follow (the sheep) and those that challenge (the thinkers).
Sheep tend to check what everyone else is doing before they decide whether to do something. They find the unusual silly, or worthy of mocking or destruction. You can see them look up and check to see if anyone is watching before they do something that might be out of the norm. These folk also tend to believe stuff on face value i.e. what the TV tells them, or what Joe bloggs down the pub said, or its in a book so it must be true. Folk who start a 'fact' by saying.....'They say that...' Sheep also love to dress like everyone else so that they don't stick out in a crowd. When questioned about, or presented with a discussion about something they aren't sure about they get defensive, angry or dismissive.
Thinkers forge their own (often seemingly overly difficult) paths. They day-dream, they question most (if not all) the treasured 'truths' just for the hell of it. Thinkers like to demonstrate their individuality and mock anything they see as uniform as grey and boring. Thinkers do strange things just for the experience and love to endlessly debate unsolvable problems and theories (getting no where). Thinkers are drawn to the 'big questions' like moths to a flame. Thinkers often suffer bouts of depression and/or paranoia but also get obsessed by something trivial for days/weeks until it is conquered.
I see the sheep as the forces of order and stagnation and the thinkers as the forces of chaos and disruption.
Society needs both as out of the conflicting motives and objectives of the two factions a balance of adaption with stability is created.
So to bring this ramble (it is Friday after all) back to its source..........I'd argue that not everyone can do everything. Its a part of evolution for Humans to be different.
Unless you start training them young enough that is, but even then, some will be better at some things than the others.
Did you just accidently post the contents of your last appraisal?
No amount of nature or nuture can justify some cases of people being deliberately different, take Goths for example...
I prefer the Disney attitude - anyone can achieve anything they want if they just believe in themselves.
Oh, and saying we are not genetically equal is really straying into dubious terrritory - perhaps those sheep should have badges marking them out!