The Old Pals: Nature and Nurture.

First I should probably apologize for my lack of blogs...the end of the semester was very busy for me, but I made some notes about things I observed and am going to try to put them out here while I'm on break.

The other day while I was at a restaurant I noticed an older married couple sitting at the table next to me. They didn't seem particularly happy...they weren't looking at each other or even talking to each other. Then, once their salads arrived I noticed something a bit more interesting about them. They both unwrapped their straws, rolled the paper up in a little ball and set it in the center of the table. Next, they both unfolded their napkins and laid it over just one leg. Then, they mixed the dressing into their salads the same way. These similarities went on as their meal continued, all the while they weren't even looking at each other. As usual, this got me thinking...

The classic nature vs. nurture battle: How many of our actions and emotions are learned because of the people we are always around and how many are actually unique to ourselves? If nurture were the winner, at least one person of the married couple from the restaurant has not always rolled their straw wrapper into a little ball. One would have picked it up from the other without realizing it, and so it would be with many of the things they do. However, if nature were superior to nurture, it would all just be a coincidence.

Personally, I am inclined to believe that nurture reigns supreme in this case. However, I also believe that if you are aware of an action or a personal quirk that you believe is unique to yourself and then you meet someone else whom you discover has that same quirk, you will be more likely to be compatible with that person. In other words, maybe our natural actions attract us to people and as our relationships develop, the nurtured actions keep them strong. Maybe there is no battle between nature and nurture, and they have really just been working together all along.

The Importance of Acceptance

Growing up, parents try to implement certain values in their children. One good lesson a parent always gives their child is to be themselves, regardless of if you are accepted or not. That is to say, it is more important to be true to yourself than to be accepted for something you aren't.

This thought occurred to me when I was talking to my little sister about her college applications. I started thinking about how important being accepted truly is in our society. Even from a young age, you have to try out to be on sports team. Then when you are a little older, you have to request entrance to certain clubs and organizations. Then when you are older than that, you have to hope to God that the college of your dreams accepts you into their program. The list goes on and on...

There are many important parts of life that you have to be accepted into, there is no other way around it. You can't grow and gain new experiences if you aren't accepted into these things, and I think this fact sheds light on the reason why so many people long for acceptance in every aspect of their lives. Because, when viewed from this standpoint, society links acceptance with success.

People are EXTREMELY Different

I love rowing. And I always say that people who stick with rowing, have to REALLY love it. They are rowing extremists, if you will. Because if they aren't, the amount of work and pain involved would cause them to quit. I know that rowers have been called crazy for many different reasons: we wake up at ungodly hours of the morning, we sit for hours at a time on ergometers, our "sprint" races are 6-8 minutes long, we spend thousands of dollars on racing shells and regattas...the list goes on.



When I hear people say these things, I can understand why any non-rower would think that rowers are psycho...but I rarely think of myself, or rowing, as insane. To me and the rowing community, it's the norm.


Yeah, yeah, I love rowing...but what's my point? Glad you asked.

Tons of people are extremists. Everyone from fashionistas to crazy cat ladies. It may not make sense to me to spend $500 on a purse or to own 18 cats, just like it doesn't make sense to them to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to go row 10 thousand meters. The point is, is that it is their norm and everyone's norms are different. It may seems outrageous to outsiders, but to you, it is simply apart of your everyday.

Leaping Culture Gaps

One night I was falling asleep with the TV on and I heard a commercial for "Elmo's Tickle Hands"...which is a strange product in and of itself, but what really sparked my half-asleep mind was the very end of the commercial, when Elmo shouted "Yeaaahhhh, boooooooiii". I wasn't sure I had heard it right, so I looked up the commercial on Youtube the next day, and sure enough, there was Elmo quoting Flavor Flav.

Once I noticed this first instance of hip-hop culture in children's advertising, I started seeing the same cultural leap in other places. I actually found out that Chris Brown was a guest on Sesame Street, although the episode is no longer showing on cable because of Brown's arrest.




Around the time that I first noticed the Elmo commercial, a video started spreading across the internet of a baby dancing to Beyonce. I also come across this video of two young children dancing to T-Pain's song Low.

I find it truly entertaining that Elmo says things like "Yeah Boi" and his audience of toddlers doesn't think anything of it. I love the fact that in today's society it is easy to cross even the most opposite of cultures in modern media!

Stereotypes Through the Ages

A few weeks ago, I was watching The Breakfast Club with my cousin. I got to thinking about all of the stereotypes portrayed in the movie:


I thought each of these people seemed so timeless and so relate-able to every person's high school experience. But when I really started to think about it, I figured that these stereotypes certainly were prevalent in 1985, I don't think they necessarily still apply today, at least not with the same terminology.

Have new, modern stereotypes replaced the classic five-some of The Breakfast Club?


Later in the week, with the concept of modern stereotypes on my mind, I noticed the overwhelming existence of hipsters. So, I did some reading around. One blog gave a detailed, definite description of the characteristics of a hipster, including drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, listening to Indie Rock music, and just being all around non-mainstream. Actually, an article in Advertising Age, proclaims that sales of PBR have increased due to the "word of mouth campaign that made the long-declining brand an "ironic downscale chic" choice for... younger drinkers who viewed the beer as a statement of non-mainstream taste."

Also, there is a popular "hipster spotting" webiste, "Look at this F***ing Hipster", where hipster-haters can post pictures of extreme hipsters. Here is an image of what "stereotypical" hispters look like:




Another modern stereotype that has caught my attention is that of a bro. Bros is defined on urbandictionary.com as "an alpha male idiot...white, 16-25 years old, inarticulate, belligerant, talks about nothing but chicks and beers..." the list of compliments goes on. Living on a college campus, I am exposed to a lot of "white 16-25 year olds" and have come across many "bros". From my point of view, this description is fairly accurate. However, to a true bro, being considered such is not at all a bad thing -- They are proud of their "bromance". MTV briefly produced a show entitled Bromance in which men had to compete to become Brody Jenner's best friend (or bro).




All in all, times change, so why wouldn't stereotypes? While The Breakfast Club will remain a classic movie, I believe that the era of the "kook" has ended.