Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Please, Just Let Me Die Already
Hat:
That's probably the most interesting (and cruel) part, to be honest.
Jimmy the Squid:
I plan to lie to my future children as little as possible. In fact I'm pretty sure the only thing my folks lied to me was the whole God thing and even then I can't really say whether or not I really believed it or whether I was just going along with what I was told. I mean my parents did do the whole Santa thing (well actually we had "angels" that put the presents under the tree) but I don't remember thinking a red-suited fat dude broke into my house to leave presents that were labelled as having come from my dad or aunties or whatever.
calenlass:
--- Quote from: Hat on 12 Sep 2009, 02:54 ---Also about people expecting to be paid in sex for being a good human being, I constantly find myself doing that. It sucks, appears to be largely chronic personality disorder, and is one of the more prominent reasons I don't typically try to pursue relationships with women any more and also why I try to convince people I have absolutely no libido.
--- End quote ---
I had a conversation with my therapist about how easily I thought I could be brainwashed. It was mostly musing about how if I had been raised in a specific culture, like super-conservative middle-eastern Taliban-esque muslim, or fundamentalist mormon, or nazi Germany, that I thought I could totally see myself being a pushover and getting into all the propaganda and taking everything at face value, basically.
What she told me is that all of that is indeed possible, except there is one thing that cuts the statistical probability in half: my awareness. Intelligence may be conditioned, just like homosexuality might be nurture instead of nature (who knows? who cares!), but awareness is entirely inborn. You can try to teach people to be self-aware or curious about the world around them, but it is not the same as having some concept of consequences, and that capacity to gauge cause and effect is just a part of you. Thus, if I was born into some society where I might be brainwashed, it is possible I would be easily swayed. However, the fact that I was even having this conversation with her indicates that, then again, I might not.
So basically what I am saying is that yeah it is a shitty thing, but you know it is a shitty thing, and you know you do it. And who knows? Maybe you think that is what you do and actually that is just your [mis]perception. Anyway, you are already doing better than the rest of the fuckers out there.
iamiam:
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 12 Sep 2009, 03:29 ---Sometimes I wonder what a kid would be like who has literally never been lied to. Tell them right off the bat about sex, that there is no Santa, Easter Bunny or indeed, God. Every time they ask a difficult question, answer them as honestly as possible. I've often wondered what kind of child that would produce. It might mess them up more than lying to them about that stuff, I have absolutely no idea. I wonder if anyone's ever tried it.
--- End quote ---
i think that what matters most to a child's upbringing is the morality that parents teach them, and the love and care they receive. not what commonplace fairy tales they do or don't tell their children. the only way i could see a (western, middle-class) child not being told about 'santa' or 'the easter bunny' impacting them is in a negative way is because, as others said, they would feel confused and left out from their peers.
unless a parent is indoctrinating their kids to believe santa truly exists, then it is not a lie. it is a story and a myth that is enjoyed in childhood and eventually grown out of. parents also read their kids fairy tales of princes and princesses who fight dragons and then live happily ever after. i haven't actually ended up finding prince charming (...yet) but does that make those stories "lies"?
there isn't any need to tell a five year old all the truths about sex. there isn't any need to tell a child the harsh truth of every reality. that is what growing up is for. that's what your learning and experience is for. you start off in the innocence and comfort of childhood and you slowly come to realize the truths of the world as you grow old enough to understand them and strong enough to face them.
i understand what you are trying to say with being as honest as possible with children, rather than indoctrinating them with bullshit or attempting to shield them from every truth. but i really think you are confusing some of the normalcies of childhood innocence, imagination and gullibility for "lies".
phooey:
ITT: Tommy wants to tell children all about sex.
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