Think about it. Being born, we are biologically the same thing. We breathe air with our lungs in the exchange of CO2 and 02. We contract muscles as we accumulate rigorous exercises. We see with our retina that is composed of rods and cones that is sent, processed and interpreted in our occipital lobe. Our autonomic nervous system is divided into the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous system that allows us to stimulates adrenaline that allows us to survive through our evolutionary time and induce fight or flight response and maintain our level of homeostasis. Theoretically, the only difference that accounts physically is our phenotype characteristics(E.g skin, hair, eyes). But realistically, what we perceive to be simple is the reason for prejudice and racism which probably have and will be one of our hardest social epidemic to cure. Oh wait, i'm not even sure that there is a cure for prejudice and racism. Ironically, inside we really are the same. I saw in geographic channel that there is a database for the genotype of everyone all over the world and we can find out how close is our DNA materials to another individual through a simple test(extracting our blood to compare the alleles). Turns out what we do not expect, we have the possibility of being closely related that someone opposite to our "race". There was a chance that someone who is supposably Asian American but has the exact number of Allele and DNA chromosome as someone who is Nigerian. Turns out, our exterior is just a shell. Internally, we are more similar than we perceive to be. If then, why do such phenomenon as racism or prejudice exist? I will discuss this matter soon in my next entry. Till next time.
23.5.11
Fundamental Attribution Error
It is said that as humans we have this capability called the "fundamental attribution error". For those of you who are not clear to what it means, basically it means for humans to have the tendency to overestimate the influence of personality and underestimating the influence of situations. I believe this is the cause of the prejudice and misunderstanding of our relations with other people. Don't you find it true? We do this everyday. Take a hypothetical situation of being in a classroom every new semester starts. We judge people's behavior through the way the situation puts them. If "A", being a hypothetical person is friendly, warm and funny we perceive them to have an outgoing personality. If "A" acted cold, quite and unfriendly, then we inferred that person to be not nice. In other words, we tend to attribute a person's behavior to their personal disposition even when we know that the behavior is "situational". My question here is that, does that mean we are not suppose to judge anyone based on the situation? OF course not. There are times when the fundamental attribution error is to our advantage. If there is someone who is carrying a knife in front of you, surely we "judge" them as someone who we do not want to be with or stay close to. But to what extent should we have this capability? I would say according to context. Whether we achieved this state through biological or evolutionary gene from our ancestors, there are times to use it to our advantage and others we should not. In everyday life, we often struggle to explain other's actions. Our past experiences determines our attribution to decide what is best for us. Whether the consequences is good or bad, we move on with our lives. However, you should know that this attribution theory is evident in our lives. Just think about it, how do you get accepted to your chosen universities? Isn't mostly because of your academic standing, what you do for the community and your reputation as a person? Or your job? For me, its just the way our society has become. We can't exactly blame them for what we have become but the point to remember is to be careful to an individual's dispositions or to their situations. Our actions have REAL consequences.
2.5.11
Are we the same as we used to be?
Everyday, we do the things that we often might have not expect to happen. We meet people whom we later on call as friends, we fulfill our daily needs:groceries, chores, homework, etc, we ran into unexpected accidents that could change our lives. These qualities as time embodies its reflection in our soul change who we are. My question is that at some point of our lives, are we going to reflect whom we used to be? What changes that constitutes who we are today is different than who we used to be? Will it be a regret? Or Relief? I tried looking back who I used to be and honestly, I was a "freak" as society would perceive my soul. I thought of negativity around the people, the world and its existence. Maybe I was just a kid back then, I had not seen the world yet but now, I do have seen the world in a wider perspective. I may not literally seen the world big enough but what I think about the world is better now. I see that people are divided into two categories: The one who are blind and the one who sees through everything, somewhat of clairvoyant quality perhaps. Those who are blind can never understand that there are those who care about them, who is unable to understand what the world is really like, and the power that they might have had to make the world better. Those who refuse to make better and fix our past mistakes. Truly it is pitiful. Humans are the strangest creatures in this world. We are an enigma. We have the potential to do almost anything, given our capability of synapses to join and create thoughts that can construct whatever world we desire but we choose to ignore it and instead use it for the gain of greed and world domination. As I age and reflect who I used to be, I am one of those people who thinks that they are able to "destroy" the world what we lived in, but now....I have seen it better. The world isn't a scary place, its our thoughts and desire whom what we should really fear.
30.4.11
The Way I see The World
What are the expectations that we must fulfill in our lives? To get good grades? To go into a top notch school that everybody, by everybody i mean like society thinks its "upper class"? Its not that Im saying is bad or anything but I feel like if we are obliged to do what everyone says or thinks then what about the things that we really want? If nobody tells you that say being a doctor is by far the most important profession in the world but instead say being a musician or artists makes the greatest salary....Wouldn't the world turns upside down? Wouldn't our perspective about the occupations of the world change completely? Imagine yourself that you just never are burdened by the thoughts of the pressure of your particular community, imagine what you will able to do. Maybe thats the reason why there are no such thing as an original idea anymore. I'm sorry if I'm being selfish but hey that is how I see the world. Isn't that why the reason why you get up in the morning, do your so called job, to earn money, whether you actually like the job or not, you do it because its an obligation to society. Then probably being undecided is something not to be shameful about. The world is a big place and there is nothing shameful to not know what you want. We are not enforced to what society expects us to be but instead find what we are really good at and develop that talent by our own desire. True, maybe I'm being selfish, but isn't this our lives? Shouldn't we have a say in this? Honestly, I blame the way we are now because of the world. If not only the world doesn't function this way, it doesn't function on materialism, capitalism, different political and religious views....then maybe, just maybe the world will be in a better place. A place where us young generations are not constricted by the predicament of our parents and what the community tells us.
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