WHy is it good to NOT CARE what others think?

[Reinbeau]

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I couldn't agree more. I have serious problems with the drug laws in this country. The biggest, baddest drug is perfectly legal and acceptable, even socially expected - alcohol. That's the 'gateway' drug, your father's liquor cabinet! Trying to stop people from smoking pot is just as ridiculous as prohibition was. I know way more lives that have been ruined by alcohol than pot. I've actually been told that I wouldn't enjoy a cruise because I didn't drink!

Give me a break.

I chose long ago to not alter my consciousness with anything, and I have a fine time no matter what I do.

I'd be pro prison if I knew everyone in there was genuinely hopeless and would stay put, but I certainly can't be for a system that temporarily puts in bad people to corrupt the not-so-bad people who are constantly shuffling through. It makes me almost tempted to say put them all down . . . if only I weren't opposed to mass murder on a whim. I suppose I could justify it by grinding them up into chicken feed afterwords, but what are the odds of that going over well? Come on, you know the hens would LOVE fair turnaround for all the KFC's out there

I like the way you think!

 

[meriruka]

I've always felt sorry for the people who are rebellious, in-your-face and F-U , I do what I want.

I don't admire those people, I pity them. They are so desperate for attention. They feel like they have to go to extremes to stand out from the 'common herd'.
Most people are terrified of being ordinary.Why do you think so many are interested in the lives of celebrities? Either we want to see that they are just like us, or we wish we could live such 'exciting' lives.

I think the biggest problem in society is that very few are content with what they have.
It's not enough to have family and a few friends that love you, somewhere to live and enough to eat. It's getting worse with all the reality shows that take normal people and put them in situations that make them look interesting.

Those of us who are content with ourselves and our lives do as we please, make our own decisions.
Self confidence enables you to not only go your own way, but do so without having to make a big fuss about it.
It also gives you the ability to be polite to those who deserve it, and stand up to ignorant jerks.

Purple Chicken, I have to say this......
The Brittish did not feel that the Boston Tea Party was a "good" form of rebellion. But hey, everytime tthere's a rebellion, somebody's bound to take offence.

 

[Buster]

Quote:

Well said. There are times in society that rebellion is necessary, but generally on an individual basis, it seems that those who lack self confidence in society are those that have to be the attention seekers.

 

[Lunachick]

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Right you are. And on the movie thing - you're not missing much.

 

[ibpboo]

It a little depends on who is doing the thinking about me, and whether or not they are right or wrong in what they are thinking about me, and whether or not it is beneficial or necessary to correct what they are thinking of me. I may be too busy being productive to worry about what everyone is thinking.

 

[arlee453]

My husband has a favorite saying...it's

"concept of other people" This is what he says when someone is just being totally selfish in their behavior and not even thinking that there are other people in the world...

examples?
talking loudly on a cell phone/not turning it off in church or other quiet place, etc

taking forever to argure some obscure, non-important point with a clerk when there are 10 people behind you in line

wearing clothes obviously meant to shock and offend at an inappropriate place - like a funeral like someone else mentioned

playing your music so loudly in your own vehicle that it's giving people in the car beside you heart palpatations

Intentionally moving up in traffic JUST so you cut off the people trying to merge in because of road construction, etc

the list could go ON and ON...

I think what it boils down to is that it's not really about rebellion or caring what others think. It's caring and being considerate for other people - not to the point where you compromise your own morals, but just being polite and kind.

You know, understanding that there ARE other people in the world, and it's not really a bad thing to have respect for them and be considerate in your own actions, even when you may not agree with them or 'care' about them.

If everyone WOULD think just a little bit about other people, the world would be a much kinder and nicer place...

 

[rooster0209]

very interesting points of view here.

I used to care what other people thought of me. I was miserable all thru school, trying to fit in, be like eveyone else, look like "them" etc. I was just never comfortable being "different". As I became an adult, I realized that I don't care what other people think of me. I have chosen my own path and made my own decisions regardless of others opnions. AND you know what, I am happy, finally right down to my soul, honestly content. I might be considered a rebel because I believe some rules are made to be broken. I am not going to end up in prison either. One size does not fit all.

I admire people who took their own paths regardless of the "status quo". Whether they be in the entertainment world or just your average kind of person.

Recently there was an article in Newsweek on the "autistic" child. The question was "Is society labeling future Einsteins or Mozart's as autistic and medicating the uniqness out of them?" It was very intersting and thought provoking. One parent had a daughter who was different, in the aspect that she could hear spiders crawling on the wall, had to wear her clothes inside out because they felt scratchy. Doctors labeled her autistic and wanted to medicate her. The mother said No, because guess what, sometimes there were spiders on the wall.

We are all different, some of us embrace that and some just follow.

 

[Davaroo]

Remember this wasn't about taking your own path or carving a niche for yourself. If people didn't do THAT, we would have no progress.

But one poster said this:
"No one thinks anything of a couple shacking up instead of getting married, unwed pregnancies, cheating on taxes, etc."
And I'd add... No one thinks anything of wearing their pants around their knees, selling sex "since everyone else does it," Jerry Springer Show lifestyles, politicians with their heads in the gutter and the other signs of the times.

I watched a YouTube video yesterday were you saw a man in close up, mouthing the words "F-U" over an over. It was intended to be funny, but I found it repulsive after this thread.

When I came up, you wouldn't have seen any of this stuff. Honestly, we've lost ground; fewer and fewer people want to trouble themselves with the moral highground. Their attitude:
"Hey were all messed up anyway, so what's the big deal? Why should I hold myself to any sort of standard? So F-U!"

Again, at the risk of being redundant, when did these things become popularly acceptable? And why?

PS - Note the lack of Madonna references here.

 

[Oblio13]

As a general rule, I like eccentrics and rebels.

 

[behrable]

I feel that everyone has the right to be them selfs and do there own thing. As long as you are respectfull to the world and all the people in it . always give more then you take.