A Little Thing Called Common Sense
:welcome:
Introduction:
Hello, everyone. My name is Just_A_Dude here on TH, and after reading various topics (here and in other places) and having experiences in real life, I have decided to make a topic to discuss common sense. I don't plan on making this very short, because I have many points and topics to cover. I've also aimed this at a more mature audience, but I don't mean mature by age. I mean mature by attitude, I don't expect an 11 year old to care for this topic, but all ages are free to read and share their thoughts if they wish (it's not like I can stop you, I'm just letting you know you're welcome to speak you mind here without negative thought toward your age to the maturity of this topic. Example: "Oh, you're way too young to know anything about that," posts will not be tolerated). For the record, I'm only 14, and I know how immature some of my peers can be, so I feel this is a very mature topic coming from someone my age. Maybe I wont word it as mature as I'd like, but oh well. Here goes nothin'.
So if you don't like reading or deep discussions, this is your stop.
Please note that this topic to to discuss opinions and views from our whole community, so no flame war stuff AT ALL. Your view is just as welcome as anyone else's, you are not to come here to put down other's thoughts just because you disagree.
If the mods find this too deep or don't like the idea of this, please close or delete this thread. I just thought this would be a very interesting topic, but I don't think it's breaking any rules.
Let's Begin the Discussion
Okay, let's get to it. As stated above, I plan to cover multiple topics here, and I'm writing this in text editing software because I want this to be really clear and understandable with good points made, not rushed and incomplete.
I really want everyone to read the whole thing if you're going to be a part of this discussion, but feel free to skip around as you wish. Are you ready? Don't worry, I'm not either.
The Way We Treat Other People
Okay, I wanted to start this off with a simple and easy to understand topic that wouldn't scare anyone away right from the get-go. So let's talk about something we've all experienced: Jerks.
(I play the Pokemon TCG, make fun of me if you will, I don't care. I was just going to let you know you might not completely understand some of the stuff in this section due to the fact you probably don't play Pokemon. Also, this was originally written for a Pokemon community, but I post it wherever I go. And I don't feel like going back to fix this whole section up just for you. :p)
One day at a small tournament, a Pre-Releases I believe, we all went to go see the next round pairings. Being held in a small hobby shop, it's kinda crammed getting to and from the Standings sheet when all three divisions are trying to fit between two rows of tables, so we all inch our way up. I find my name on the list and find my table number. I see my oppenent is the "crowd" and call him over. As soon as he gets to me, we're still trying to inch ourselves away. With people in front of me, I can only move so fast. So, he gets behind me and tells me to, "Move faster," and then shoves me. I lose some of my balance and hit the person in front of me, a Junior (Term used to describe a player age 10 or younger) mind you (And him). So I quickly apologize and get to my table. I expressed my feeling toward what had happened to the person who shoved me before we began our match. I just don't understand how someone could be like that. We're all trying to get out, we're all moving slow, and he has to go shoving people? I just don't get it, what's the point? What does he gain from shoving me into other people? Creative name calling before a match? Oh wow, real mature.
I'll end this topic now, you get the point that I'm trying to make. Don't you? Why do people act so rude and mean to everyone, even people who have done nothing to them? What do they gain from this? It's just so wrong the way we treat each other.
The Way Parents Raise Their Kids
So, now that we've discussed the way people act so rude. Let's get to the problem: The way they're raised.
As a parent, your only job in life is to raise your child correctly. Nothing else matters in your world until you're 100% sure your child was raise up right. So how could you make a mistake in this? No, wait, I take that back. Everyone makes mistakes, but why must you make so many? Did you not learn from the first? Second? Fourth? Tenth? 100th?! What excuse do you have to raise someone like the people stated above? How could you let yourself be a failure? I just couldn't imagine not raises my kids right. You are the authority in their lives, they do as you say. You tell them what's right, and what's wrong. When they break the rules, or do something against your wishes, you punish them (Like grounding, I don't mean beating kids up). What else could be easier? It's not rocket science. If you take away the source of the problem, there will be no problem.
Well, I'm only 14, I don't know much about parenting. Now do I? But I do know it's not always the parents fault. That section was mainly just meant to tackle the people who let their kids run off and do whatever the hell they want even though they know it's not good for their kids. Outside sources (such as peer pressure) cannot be blamed on the parents if the kid decides to smoke weed because his friend told him to. Is that seriously the parent's fault? No.
But as a parent, if you think it's bad for him, you should not allow him to continue to smoke weed and hang out with that friend. Encourage him to stop, tell him why it's bad, etc. Don't just let him do it, don't cave in. If you give up, you are a failure, and that is your fault.
Parents aren't a one-stop blame shop, but you can blame a lot of fucked up stuff of the parents that is their fault entirely.
It's time to end this one, too. My point here is simply just trying to say that no matter what you do, parenting isn't something you can do just half-way. You have to stick with it for at least 18 years, if not more. Don't take on the challenge if you can't handle to pressure. Are we going to have to start passing out tests to see if people are suitable for parenting? Get real, people.
TV and Video Game Ratings and Censorship
Ratings are a good thing. They help us decide what to let our children watch based on the content inside. This is definitely a plus, but why are they so strict? I understand why they include sexual and violence ratings, but why do we need one for language? Better yet, why do we have "language" at all? (I'll explain in the next section) And I really don't understand the violence category, either. I know I just said I did understand it, but let me explain.
There are parents who don't want their children to get the wrong idea from watching TV and playing games. I can respect that, but between you and me, I've been playing video games since I was about, ummmm, like, born. I remember playing mortal kombat when I was 4. That's kinda young to be playing video games, much less M rated ones. But take a look at me, even though I've been playing violent video games since I was 4 I still don't walk around beating people up, I've never had the urge to shoot someone, I've never tried to rip someone's head off, I've never hijacked a car. I haven't even ever been in a fight. Do you know why? You guessed it, and it's what this is all about. I was raised with common sense. If parents raised their kids with some common sense like my parents did me, we wouldn't have kids taking guns to school, or kids steeling cars. Or at least, not as many. There's always going to be a mental case out there... We just want to cut down on the idiots.
I can understand one for heavily violent scenes involving lots of blood and gore, guns and stuff, but having a show rated "TV-Y7-Mild Fantasy Violence" What's up with that?
"NO MOMMY I DON'T WANNA SEE THE FARIES HIT EACH OTHER!!!!!"
I know kids who eat the crap up like breakfast cereal. And we have a Rating for it. AHAHAHAH!!
Language
They're just words after all. I mean, if someone were to say, "Holy Crap!" What's the difference if they say, "Holy Shit!"? It's the same exact message, but yet everyone views the second phrase much more offensive. Is it just me, or have we lost our minds? It's just a word, a made up word. What's the problem? We view any of the list of seven, and a few more not on that list that are also considered very inappropriate, and sure, some of them are, but what about the one above? "Crap/poop/dung/turd/etc" over shit? I just don't get it, they're the same to me. Let me put it this way: If you were to put a picture next to both words in the dictionary, you'd use the same picture. Simple enough, right?
So why does everyone view them as "bad words"? We image what things look like as we speak and hear, our brains are an amazing thing. So when you say, "Crap," or when you say, "Shit," you instantly think of the same thing. What makes the other one so much worse?
And it's time for an end to this one, too. My point should be crystal clear. They're just words that mean the same thing, but yet one is worse than the other. No, I don't get it either.
[center]Teenhut's Pokemon Fanboy
Have we lost all Common Sense?
:rockon:I play the guitar.:rockon:[/center]
Have we lost all Common Sense?
:rockon:I play the guitar.:rockon:[/center]
The post was edited 4 times, last by Just_A_Dude: Added Clarification for a few things. ().