Nurture v. Nature (or Pummel v. Not-Pummel)

This editorial, of sorts, will be dedicated to the issue of parenting in today's society, introduced a little by my premiere writing piece, (You must be THIS tall to read this post).

Parenting, as we have it today, is a terrible system. Yeah, a lot of good kids come out of it, but so do a lot of rapists and serial killers and fans of the show Two and a Half Men. A lot of this has to do with parents actually parenting their kids.

I know this is going to sound a little odd to most of you. We grew up in a society where parents raised the kids, end of story. But why? How is their competency tested? By the actual acts of conception and childbirth, which over 100 billion others have done before them?

If not taking every child to a special facility to be raised by trained specialists, at least do some regulation of the parents. Do you know how many child molesters, kid-beaters, and rapists there are raising kid in their households? If there is only only one, that is one too many.

This also brings up the infamous topic of nurture vs. nature. This basically asks whether children should be raised roughly, learning the skills they need to survive, or gently easing them into society, making for a less unpleasant childhood.

Right now, we are living in a nurture society. A place where if a kid fails, it is okay, and (s)he'll just try better next time. But this isn't adequately preparing kids for adulthood, when they will fail and it won't be okay.

How it used to be was nature, and it worked pretty well. The self-destructive morons went and self-destructed themselves, and we were left with all of the productive smarties. This current system is leading to overpopulation, children never truly becoming adults, and TMZ. Do we really want any of that?

Thanks for reading and considering,
-J. Valett

The Power of Power (or [in]Famous)

If you could have any super power in the entire world, what would it be? Would it be to fly, to shape shift, to read minds? Now imagine yourself with this super power.  What next? What would you do with it?

Some may say, “I want to teleport to go to Hawaii everyday in a second.”  Some might say “I want to read minds to see if that ‘special someone’ really likes me or not.”  But why is it that no one says “I want to become super powerful to help the elderly cross the street”, or “to rid cities of gangs and drug cartels?”

If you were bestowed with the gifts of power, and you weren’t taking care of cities, or helping people, you may be considered irresponsible.  Would this eventually make you a villain? Would it be your obligation to help people because you are the only one capable of certain tasks?

Now these terms of ‘super this’ and ‘super that’ are quiet drastic, but what if they were applied to real terms.  The president of the United States can either choose to help America or use is power for swimming pools and corn dogs.  He can choose to isolate the United States from war, or enter battle and protect the world for Democracy.  The principles are the same.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs a little spoiling, and power simply helps one acquire this.  But it seems that it is human nature to be selfish.  The truly strong and wise are the ones to overlooks instinct, and care for others.  So I guess what I’m saying is that “with great power comes great responsibility.”  (Ironically this quote came from Stan Lee’s Spider-man, but that’s not the point). 

Thanks for Reading and Considering

-N. Xavier

Black Friday (or Party and Party and NO)

It has recently come to the media’s attention that Rebecca Black’s song Friday is one of the most horrid songs to ever hit the music industry. It may be for her uncanny lyrics, or her lack of talent for singing, but in truth the song is not so terrible.

It can easily be compared to Bruno Mars’s song, The Lazy Song, which simply outlines the boring life of a man. The same goes with The Beatles’s song, A Day in the Life. The lyrics compared side by side with one another are almost exactly the same as Black’s Friday.


http://www.forkparty.com/12198/song-similarities-rebecca-blacks-friday-vs-the-beatles-a-day-in-the-life

So does this in fact mean that by bashing the young Rebecca Black for her careless lyrics,
you are also bashing the great Beatles? Is this possible? Believe it or not, I have heard remakes of this same “horrid song” (as the public claims) and it wasn’t half bad. When good singing is added to this mixture of a media cake, it actually comes out of the oven tasting good.

So we are left with two questions:
1) Should Friday have gotten less slack from the media?
2) Who is Nathan Xavier?

Thanks for reading and considering
-N. Xavier

Pushing down on me, pushing down on you (or Sucks to Soceity)

If you have an earring, or belly ring, or tongue ring, or nose ring, or any piece of non-surgical metal somewhere in your sack of flesh known collectively as a body, think about why you got it. Is it because it is pretty? Because you like how it feels? If so, you have just done what all of us have done: Succumbed to and been brainwashed by societal pressure. On the other hand, if you just like sticking metal into your body, then you should probably get some help, Zzasz.

Now, you may not agree with my assumptions regarding how society has treated all of us. But when you think about it, ninety-five percent of what you consider normal is society based, because that is what organized society is for. Why is wearing clothes normal? Because it is? Wouldn't wearing heating pads and cloaks keep us equally warm? Why then sweatshirts and jeans and socks.

I don't count myself exempt from society's crazy rules, as any of you who have met me have seen me wear such things as clothes and shoes. But I can look back on these things with a critical eye. Have you ever looked back and thought, "Why do I do this?" Think past what society has told you is right, and think of what makes sense. Does stabbing yourself with metal make sense? What about caking your face with powder and drawing on it with pencils? What about the entire idea of formal wear?

The reason I have realized these things is because I'm weird. I'm not like most people on Earth, in that the way that I think and act would confuse most people. I don't laugh or get freaked out by the subcultures that replace part of their jaw with wood or lengthen their necks with golden necklaces. Do you know why?

Cause if they met you, they might do the same damn thing.

Thanks for reading and considering,
- J. Valett.

Due Monday (or Who Gives?)

I remember being in history class, not too long ago, and my teacher brought up teaching by rote. When questioned as to what it meant, the class discovered that it referred to a teaching technique where students just had to memorize a lot of things and were quizzed on it. My teacher then said that it was a good thing that that system has been discontinued.

It hasn't.

Classes like history and science, mostly, is just rote memorization. There is no formula you can plug into and say, "4x-3y to the power of 1920's speakeasies= who won the election of 1902". That leaves us with memorizing everything, and then losing anything that didn't interest us. That is not a very efficient system.

Math and English are better, to a degree, since you learn formulas and apply the knowledge into other examples. But once you reach sixth or seventh grade, you know everything you'll need to know if you aren't planning on entering that field. No acting job will ever require me to know the volume of a sphere.

This system didn't always suck however. There was a time when school was the only place to get this information, and that was why it was so vital. Nowadays, the Internet can be used to find literally almost anything you would need to know. Now you don't have to memorize the President in 1812, because Google does.

It isn't a good idea to get rid of school. I'm not going to even entertain that notion. But school needs to adapt to the times, not cling to old ways that no longer work or are no longer important.

Students all over the world are having information that is not important to them or relevant to society today shoved down their throat. It's time someone asked "Why is there a hand in my mouth?"


Thanks for reading and considering,
-J.Valett

The Reading Curve (or A Dying Medium)

Hello resplendent visitors to ideasofidealists.blogspot.com! In a slight mix-up, I have a guest author tonight with a topic he/she/he is passionate about! So welcome Nathan Xavier!
On a side note, if you enjoy his/her/his writing style, comment below or email me and tell me so. Also, I am going to try to post more regularly, if possible.

I recently encountered one of my closer friends.  She said, “Oh my gosh! You have to read this book!” So I asked her about it, got some information, and determined that this was indeed an ‘interesting read’.  

This conversation occurred at the beginning of the month and to this day I have not read said book.  The truth of the matter is, I do enjoy a good story, but I do not have the patience to sit down and indulge in a book.  Honestly, I dislike reading with a passion.  

Part of the reason I feel that reading is an enemy in my eyes is our schooling systems.  At young ages, children are told that they must read at least 15 minutes a day, and then write about what they read.  And in the beginning, children enjoy this task. I personally loved seeing how much I could read and remember in a short period of time.  But as time went on, this task became more of chore, rather then reading for enjoyment.  

Another reason I do not experience a thrill while reading a book is that there are other forms of art in the modern world that have equally compelling stories.  People may argue, “But you can’t tell what the characters are thinking” or “A book can be longer and therefore more detailed,” but I see it that a movie can have many deep characters and allow the audience to relate to the characters.  For example, Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the movie experiences many emotionally challenging obstacles for the characters that they must overcome, and to this day, people are still pondering the ending (which will not be reveled in this writing because I care for my fellow readers and do not want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen Inception).  

Yet another form is video games.  Now don’t jump out of your seats or close out of this blog saying “Pacman doesn’t have a story!” If you do say this you would be right.  But in my recent years I have encountered many games that have personally changed my life.  Hours have been spent playing these games trying to understand certain characters motives and emotions towards a subject.  Games like Resistance, Dragon Age: Origins, God of War and Uncharted have tested the very emotions of consumers.  

All of these aspects of movies and video games are identical to that of books.  Henceforth, you are not a bad person if you don’t read a book.  However you choose to enjoy your free time is your choice.  You may even enjoy something that wasn’t listed there….and that’s OK! I personally just dislike when others are forcing people to read, it defeats the purpose of free time and defeats the principles of enjoyment.  

Thanks for reading and considering,

-N. Xavier