Stereotypical induced need?
Out of curiostiy, does anyone think that, if it wasn’t so stereotypical for people to ‘have a home’ that was connected to a certain place, would the homelessness issue actually bother any of us at all? Is a home base really that integral to us? Or is it just something society makes us believe we need, like advertising tries to make us think we need the newest, hippest thing?
Sometimes I wonder, if some of the things we believe so important, are only that important to us because of the society we are in. I mean, if you think about it, in the stone age if a man bonked you on the head and took you to his cave and got you pregnant, this day and age it would be called rape, but back then it was the norm. Not that I am saying that rape is ok, I believe it’s one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, especially since I have seen what it can do to a person.
Compare any two societies together. One place it’s normal to walk around naked, another it’s taboo.
Is our need to have a place we can call home, connected to a physical place, on the same level as our need to be wearing clothes when we go out into public?
Sorry, this might be a bit random, but it has been going on in my mind. Part of it could be stereotypically induced, yes, but then why is it a NEED for some of us. I know some people who don’t actually need a home, home is where they are, or where their suitcases are, but some people, alot of TCK’s, and non-TCK’S, have a need to have a home.
If a non-TCK’s home is burnt down, it is like a personal insult, for some maybe even akin to loosing a part of themselves.
Attatchement to the object, or the idea?
Half Danish, Half Irish Lived in: Luxembourg, Switzerland, England, Ireland, Singapore Now I'm living in Denmark... Which in itself, though not very exotic is definetly an interesting experience. Not to mention all the pastries... Somebody save me from obesity, I just can't stop eating them!!
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18 Comments to “Stereotypical induced need?”
June 10th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
It’s definitely an interesting thought.
For me, though, I didn’t feel homeless until I “repatriated” to the US. And I grew up around people who also didn’t seem to trouble themselves with that sense of homelessness.
There was a time when it troubled me in my identity crisis, but not in the sense of “I have no home” but more in “Who am I?”
So for me… I don’t feel homeless because other people have homes. I feel homeless because I can’t think of a place to call home, but I’m comfortable with that now.
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June 10th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Basically I think along the same lines as you Cattt. Although there are some things we probably want or need naturally, I think we are heavily influenced by the propaganda society distributes via mass media, schools and so on. Peer and parental pressure play a big role in enforcing these things.
But do we really need to go out and party to be alive? I mean do it if you enjoy it by all means - I’m not stopping anyone - but is there a need to force people who are perfectly happy with a good book, popcorn and Coke & ice - to go out and be miserable at these events?
Do we really need to buy that car?
Do we need to go on holiday and travel somewhere? I mean if you love traveling do it. But it bothers me when people say: What do you mean you didn’t go on holiday! You have to go somewhere! Then travel becomes like that party I didn’t want to really go to because it’s well, obligatory!
Do we really need a partner? It’s nice but maybe I don’t NEED one.
Do we need children? As far as I’m concerned I don’t need children and nobody’s gonna talk me out of it.
Do we need to buy this and that and this that?
Do we need to achieve this and that and this and that?
Do we need to have that little house with a lawn with a pet dog running around in the garden and kids, etc?
Do we need…?
With all these needs small wonder there are so many unhappy people in the world.
I think one needs to really decide what they need and don’t need and be content with it.
I do NEED my hot water and electricity and Internet and audio books (since reading is a strain on my eyes these days) and my glasses (old age)so it’s not like I’ve found Nirvana or anything. But I don’t need to go to Spas or do retail therapy much anymore.
These days my retail therapy consists of buying a bag of gummy bears and bar of chocolate at Carrefour!
But it’s nice to feel the need for fewer things these days.
As for a home - I think some of it is also part of our cultural brainwashing. One doesn’t need a stereotypical home. If one has a place they can call home they can fill it up with what makes them feel comfortable and it’s not for anyone else to tell you how you should decorate it or what you should put in it , etc. Maybe your home is your suitcase or hat. If it works for you, people should let it be.
By the way my home is my flat here as I’ve mentioned before…but one day if I sell it, my new house or flat will be my home.
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June 10th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I agree,
I think it is mostly societal, there are many nomadic groups which have existed throughout history who have had no attachement to one permanent home in on one specific plot of land…the physical need for a “home” I think is something enforced on us in a way. Sure it’s nice to have a place you can call home but it is very restricting of, as Ayako said, what YOU as an individual really need.
I remember a discussion we had a month ago or so where jackrabbit asked about what defines home…I think that once you accept that “home” isn’t necessarily what society thinks it should be, then you can accept yourself as being or not being “home” everywhere, the issue doesn’t really matter…. actually the issue only started “mattering” to me when people started asking me where I was from/where is home…which no one really did until I was about 12 (or at least it wasn’t a question for me until them).
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June 11th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I’ve had thoughts along similar lines, Ayako. Society, culture and all the rest institutionalizes us about what we’re supposed to have, and thinking abstractly, we actually *need* very little. Just because everyone else does it doesn’t mean you have to.
But I do believe in the qualitites of an objective opinion, so it’s worth riding both horses before you have to choose. I know, I know, it sounds very TCK.
Anyway, the truth is on the other glove too. Just because no one does it doesn’t make it right either. You just have to think for yourself about what you like.
As in economics, NEED is pretty subjective. What we know is that people WANT. You don’t NEED to have a great steak dinner… but it’d be nice to have it. So maybe we don’t NEED a home… but do we want one, whether influenced by the majority or not? I think that’s up to each individual to decide.
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June 11th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Hypothetically if you were to put this on a ‘playground’ level, for lack of a better term, when someone ask’s you were you are from, it is like saying ‘do you have the new tamagotchi?’
and if you do, everything is ok, but when you say you don’t, the reminder of something you lack that ‘everyone else’ has makes you want it more.
The needing is derived from the wanting.
interesting Wiki-quote: “One of the problems with a psychological theory of needs is that conceptions of “need” may vary radically between different cultures or different parts of the same society. One person’s view of need may easily be seen as paternalistic by another.”
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June 11th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Love the Tamagotchi comparison! lol
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June 11th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Who doesn’t love anything to do with tamagotchi’s
I was a child addict… If I still had one, I’d still be an addict…
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June 11th, 2008 at 2:01 am
I hated those things… It woke me up to bloody feed it.
Much like the Sims, there’s a perverse glee in watching it suffer, after a while of being bothered too much. < .<
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=122
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June 11th, 2008 at 2:40 am
haha thats why you fed it BEFORE you went to bed. or just turned it off… or put it on silent…
ahahahahahah that cartoon was hilarious!
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June 11th, 2008 at 3:07 am
lol @ Dan.
Why did you even have one? lmao
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June 11th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Because it was what all the cool kids had at the time.
What? I was 12. They went out of fashion within a few months after that anyawy.
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June 11th, 2008 at 3:21 am
They were pretty cool…
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June 11th, 2008 at 3:53 am
My mother never let me have tamagotchi. It was a little upsetting as a kid since everyone I know right now had one, and everyone I knew at the time that tamagotchis were the craze had one, or even two, lol. But I guess you kind of ignore it after a while and you realise it’s not as important as it seems.
Although some people still ask me if I had a tamagotchi, and when I say no, they look at my rather pityingly. But that’s okay, I’ve got bigger things to play with. *runs off to catch nearest plane*
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June 11th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Lmao!
*But that’s okay, I’ve got bigger things to play with. *runs off to catch nearest plane**
I love that line!
I never had two. One was enough… and if I wanted I could just kill it and get a new one! Technically… whole rebirth thing…
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June 11th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Oh man, tamagotchi’s….those were the days (welll, sorta).
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June 11th, 2008 at 4:34 am
I loved tamagatchi…i would hide it around the house when it annoyed me and my mom would go crazy hearing it…then I would put it on silent in school and play with it when I was bored…
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June 11th, 2008 at 5:40 am
haha oh wow we really got off topic…
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June 30th, 2008 at 8:03 am
yah honestly, if you think about it everything seems like a stereotype.
I think life is about breaking these stereoptypes that get into human’s way of living fully and happily.
For example…I don’t need a home because the world is my home.
Or, I don’t need to get married because I just don’t. Or I don’t need to have my own child because I can adopt.
Or, I don’t need to feel embarrased at stupid clumsy things I do in public because I think they are fun.
wow the variety.
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