Wednesday, June 6, 2012

We often praise that are inherently opposed. We idealize the man that holds to his beliefs no matter the cost, yet we also manage to praise the man that is willing to make compromises so a better solution is found for all. This plays an important role when attempting to engineer a perception of yourself that prevails in society. This means that individuals will find something to praise in those they like, because any characteristic can be construed as being good, that also means that individuals will dislike who they will, and will find reasons to justify that decision.
I am opposed to the attitude that i have noticed which places importance on "being yourself", because yourself is how you are, there is not a person that you "really" are that you could act like, the person you act like is the person you are. Most individuals care about other's perceptions of them, and alter their behavior accordingly, this does not mean that they are acting contrary to who they "really" are, merely that who they are takes others perceptions of them into consideration. The majority of people, if not everyone, falls into this course of action, altering their behavior to create an image for society (ironically that image could be someone who is trying to be themselves). While this behavior is not wrong or objectionable, it does fall into a fallacy, the fact that individuals will find both reason to praise and criticize in any image we choose to create. 
So while altering our behavior to gain society's liking, is flawed, our altering our behavior to gain any particular person's liking is not, because each person will find reason to criticize or praise, as opposed to criticize and praise. The distinction is key because altering your behavior to gain a particular persons liking, makes logical sense because they can, exclusively, like a particular image. The question becomes then how to determine what image is liked by which person, to this i have no answer, for i am as equally likely to be called thrifty and cheap for not spending money, and i have noticed no correlation between one type of person favoring one and one favoring the other.  Thus while it makes logical sense, it is an impracticality that i have no solution to.
And thus ends my philosophical thinking, for those that care the score currently stands at attic 7, cameron 2. And finally i don't have a funny picture to post and so i will post another song despite my aversion to repetitiveness. This song is one of my favorites, especially because of the fact that it has such a strong Vienesse Waltz beat.
Next post: why not having mood swings leads to a happier life.

2 comments:

  1. I like reading your blog Cam- and I especially love that you just ended this post by saying this song is a Viennese Waltz. :)

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  2. What can i say Nicole, you ruined me, now i start counting whenever i hear music

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