07-29-2017, 12:00 AM
Act 1
It's important today that I talk to you about importance.
What is importance?
Importance is the quality of having been assigned a high value or a strong priority.
Interesting. Where does importance come from?
Well, often it comes from other people.
Other people?! Can you give an example of how this can happen.
Sure. Take for example, a young boy whose father serves as a color guard in the American Legion.
A what in the what?!
A color guard is someone who carries the American flag during parades and is otherwise responsible for it. The American Legion is a non-profit quasi-military organization that hosts charity events for their communities, (with some emphasis on veterans and military families), and operates a large number of bars throughout the US.
Got it.
So the boy asks his father about being a color guard, and his father tells him how beautiful the flag is, how honored he is to carry it, and how important it is that no American flag ever touch the ground at any time. When asked why that is important, he's told it's a matter of respect.
Sounds arbitrary.
It might be. Anyhow the boy then goes about running through the yard, waving his own American flag, making sure to follow the rules. His father smiles on proudly, watching his son demonstrate a desire to be like him. The son sees the proud look on his father's face and likes it.
We've been observing your planet for some time. We've seen many similar instances of children imitating their parents. Parents very often do seem to take pride in watching them do so.
Anyhow, sometime later the boy is outside, playing with the flag again when his father calls him inside to dinner. The boy, not thinking about it drops the flag and runs inside. The father sees this and begins yelling at his son, telling him how disappointed he was that he would disrespect the flag like that. The son doesn't like being yelled at, or the idea that he had disappointed his father. Thus the son prioritizes keeping the flag from ever touching the ground. He makes it important to himself.
Interesting.
What's more interesting still is that when you ask him why that's important later, he won't know that this was the reason. He'll repeat the thing about respect his father told him, or something similar. He won't know the real reason he made this important was that he really liked the reactions he got from his father when he treated the flag according to the rules, and strongly disliked the reaction he got when he left it on the ground. When people import importances from their parents or other people, they rarely realize it. They might remember they were told it was important, and even the reason behind it, but they won't realize they were emotionally manipulated into accepting it's importance. They'll think they were convinced of it by a good rational argument. Thus their ego becomes attached to believing there is a good, rational argument supporting it.
Even when they think about it's importance and analyze the rationality of it?
They rarely do that. The emotional threat is too great.
It's important today that I talk to you about importance.
What is importance?
Importance is the quality of having been assigned a high value or a strong priority.
Interesting. Where does importance come from?
Well, often it comes from other people.
Other people?! Can you give an example of how this can happen.
Sure. Take for example, a young boy whose father serves as a color guard in the American Legion.
A what in the what?!
A color guard is someone who carries the American flag during parades and is otherwise responsible for it. The American Legion is a non-profit quasi-military organization that hosts charity events for their communities, (with some emphasis on veterans and military families), and operates a large number of bars throughout the US.
Got it.
So the boy asks his father about being a color guard, and his father tells him how beautiful the flag is, how honored he is to carry it, and how important it is that no American flag ever touch the ground at any time. When asked why that is important, he's told it's a matter of respect.
Sounds arbitrary.
It might be. Anyhow the boy then goes about running through the yard, waving his own American flag, making sure to follow the rules. His father smiles on proudly, watching his son demonstrate a desire to be like him. The son sees the proud look on his father's face and likes it.
We've been observing your planet for some time. We've seen many similar instances of children imitating their parents. Parents very often do seem to take pride in watching them do so.
Anyhow, sometime later the boy is outside, playing with the flag again when his father calls him inside to dinner. The boy, not thinking about it drops the flag and runs inside. The father sees this and begins yelling at his son, telling him how disappointed he was that he would disrespect the flag like that. The son doesn't like being yelled at, or the idea that he had disappointed his father. Thus the son prioritizes keeping the flag from ever touching the ground. He makes it important to himself.
Interesting.
What's more interesting still is that when you ask him why that's important later, he won't know that this was the reason. He'll repeat the thing about respect his father told him, or something similar. He won't know the real reason he made this important was that he really liked the reactions he got from his father when he treated the flag according to the rules, and strongly disliked the reaction he got when he left it on the ground. When people import importances from their parents or other people, they rarely realize it. They might remember they were told it was important, and even the reason behind it, but they won't realize they were emotionally manipulated into accepting it's importance. They'll think they were convinced of it by a good rational argument. Thus their ego becomes attached to believing there is a good, rational argument supporting it.
Even when they think about it's importance and analyze the rationality of it?
They rarely do that. The emotional threat is too great.