Philosophy on Facebook # 24 - Fights

Philosophy on Facebook # 24 - Fights

Unfortunately Tommy and I had a really good podcast about everybody having a different reality that is affected by our perceptions but the screen capture didn’t record the audio so we were there looking like idiots and I didn’t want to post that lol. I up’d the video quality and it still isn’t that great but for webcam I think it is going to be the best we can get it. It will just look really blurry on YouTube with the compression software they utilize but on Facebook it should be decent. I think we’re going to rerecord it tomorrow sometime so there’s still time to join and be a part of it if you want.

So there was an interesting event that took place at Hammond on Friday about the guy getting arrested and this spurred a very long conversation during Ms. Hogg's world history class courtesy of Julie Rose query about what was going on. This note is going to try and basically encompass our conversation during the class. This is all based off of memory so if it doesn’t do the topic justice, don’t get too mad lol.

I think a good way to start off this topic is to say that if you’re a human then you are going to have problems. These problems could be specifically directed towards other people but what is important is the way you deal with it. Your approach to solving these conflicts with others is all based upon your upbringing and your environment. Your environment is comprised of many factors that can include your economic status and the current situations you have to deal with. Your upbringing is the way you have learned from experience through growing up how to deal with problems. Everybody has different approaches to solving a problem and these different outlooks all have different outcomes. One way that has been very prominent at Hammond recently is through physical means and by that I mean fighting.

Eric Bricker brought up a very good point about how the media is a major factor in instilling certain values into their audience that can cause them to be inclined to solve conflicts through the use of brute force. He worded it much better than I can but what he was basically saying was that media has been playing a role in the aggressiveness in society today. Think about it, a lot of what’s on TV is about violence and action. It is telling the viewers that there are positive benefits associated with being violent and aggressive in order to try and achieve you goals or fixing conflicts. For instance, if you are a badass then you beat the crap out of villains in order to receive appreciation and notoriety among females. It also gives alibis for the use of force and provides justification for why you should do it. A popular reasoning behind utilizing physical force is the idea of honor and when someone disgraces or insults it you have to defend it and the way they do it is through fighting. People are being taught to follow these strategies as they grow up. Because youth are extremely sensitive to the stimulus that’s everywhere especially provided by the media and their parents, they are in turn using force to solve their problems as well.

Not only does the environment that the media sets up for their viewers to encourage violence, but parents or lack of parents also plays a factor in this temperament. While media tends to encourage this behavior, parents can tend not to discourage this behavior which is just as worse. In situations where violence derives, the households of those members committing illegal actions usually don’t have any parental figures to instill society’s “proper” values and behaviors. Amy Simpson said in class that a lot of parents possibly just don’t care about their children to take the time to try and put them down a path of good. The parents might not necessarily care about their children but due to monetary constraints, they could be preoccupied with jobs and other important things involved in getting by. This lack of parental guidance can definitely pose as a variable in the issue of the increasing levels of hostility not only in Hammond but in the world. On the flip side, not only can parents choose to not discourage the use of force but can also encourage it due to their role model status among their children. If the child sees their dad using force or dealing drugs then they idolize him because he is their parental figure and can believe that those actions are what they should follow and abide by in their futures. These hereditary values then create a vicious cycle which travels down the generations and teach the next generation to use violence as well in order to solve conflicts.

Another important value that I feel like people are having difficulty in deciding how to approach is with trying to achieve credit and respect. You have to work and earn a status in life and while sometimes it is provided to you based on heredity factors like being born into a rich family, only through action can you change it, especially if you want to improve it. Some people use force to try and improve their lifestyle and go through possibly illegal means in order to provide for their families and themselves. Their intention is valid but the road to hell is paved with good intentions and by selling drugs and using guns, it jeopardizes their whole existence and could put those who they love in danger. I feel like kids nowadays are being forced into these paths especially due to financial constraints that are increasing due to the current economic climate. I know personally that people in school always say that the next incoming freshman class is just getting worse and worse and that tomorrow’s generation is doomed to fail because of the values we are instilling in them. It is our responsibility to provide a good example. If all they see on TV is a gangster making it big through illegal means fulfilling a rag to riches storyline then those who can relate to the rags situation then see those illegal methods as a way to get out of their poor conditions. Paul Fedynsky also brought up a good point by saying that if you’re a freshman and all you see is older kids doing drugs and fighting in order to get what they want then you will be more inclined to pursue those same paths to achieving a goal. Their perspective could be that the world is a very unforgiving and unfriendly dog eat dog world and you need to be tough and be feared in order to be successful.

Also associated with fighting are the supposed social implications that come from the outcomes of fights. Ms Hogg said that you can basically rise to celebrity status through fighting and if you successfully beat the crap out of someone you can potentially be idolized for your skills and strength. Sometimes people who engage in this type of activity don’t fear the legal implications because they can view it as an ultimatum between life and death in very extreme cases. For them all they could see is that you have to be tough and do bad things in order to build a reputation and get out of their current situation and improve their quality of life or die trying. People who have this outlook can have very stubborn views and therefore it is hard to change their views because they aren’t afraid of the consequences and punishment in store for their actions. In today’s society the general consensus of values and morals is to not resort to violence or drugs and other illegal methods in order to live your life. The ironic part of this is that those who abide by these rules aren’t in situations where they would have to resort to selling drugs in order to live or get by.

Disclosure: I personally don’t have any experience or can in any way shape or form relate to these feelings so what I’m writing about could not apply or be the truth at all but it is the perception I’ve gained from watching movies and seeing fights and things like that occur but we are personally being affected by the actions of others.

-Allan Nicholas