Quote:
Originally posted by Yorick:
quote:
Originally posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar:
I found that a professor of mine summed it up best... She said that people cling to things they know they are going to lose. This is why the British fought the industrial revolution to save the environment they previously cared little for, and why people now are telling us that marriage is a sacred sacred thing, and meant for only a man and a woman.
|
Your professor committed the cardinal sin of over generalisation. Using that incorrect assesment, you would say with certainty that:
1.Americans will lose their freedom.
2.People in love will lose each other
3.Japanese will lose rice in their meals
4.Americans will all lose their money, their jobs.
5.Americans will lose their guns.
and so on
Or you could be ridiculous and suggest that since we die we lose everything, so it's not a matter of saying we cling to what we will lose, but that we lose lose everything, so we cling to things.
So they're either stating the obvious with complete blandity, or making an overgeneralisation of zero relevence.
In other words I think it's a stupid remark of your professors. Sorry. 
Furthermore, we don;t know what tomorrow has in store. We don't know we will lose or gain anything FOR CERTAIN. You do not know whether gays WILL gain marriage rights anymore than you know you will not die from a heart attack at 8am tomorrow. The only certainty about the future is that NOTHING IS CERTAIN. (paraphrased from Confucious)
People fight for things they hold dear, that are in danger of being removed, or lost, or things they may gain. People fight out of positive catalysts as well as negative ones. They also fight just for the heck of it.
Cheers [/QUOTE]No, no. She meant that they clung to things once their loss was nigh. They began paying attention to the environment *after* the industrial revolution began, etc. Not that you can't cling to something you have no danger of losing, merely that people tend to cling to things that they tended to ignore *more* when they might be lost. Case in point. I've watched young children of about four or five leave their toys on the floor, forgotten. The MOMENT their sibling picks it up, they'll want it back, maybe say, "Mine!"
And no, I can't say FOR CERTAIN that gays will gain marriage rights. But I would bet just about anything on it and I can say that history is on my side.
But I don't see rice going anywhere.
[ 08-06-2004, 02:16 AM: Message edited by: Illumina Drathiran'ar ]