First, let me publicly utter my thanks to the wonderful and talented Mr. Stephan Jenkins. It’s been just about a year since it suddenly occurred to me that “Semi-Charmed Life” is one of the greatest songs of all time as far as memorability (that a word?). I downloaded it and iTunes’ed for other 3EB songs and found out that “How’s It Going to Be,” “Never Let You Go,” and “Deep Inside of You” are all by 3EB too. Over the next month or so, I managed to get my hands on all their CDs, and I think I can honestly say that it’s affected me in a deeper way than any other song. Hell, I’ve been rockin’ out to “Motorcycle Driveby” everyday when I get out of the shower for the past 6 months at least, and every freaking time that line gets me. “I’ve never been so alone, and I’ve never been so alive.” Gah, have you ever heard anything so… profound and simple? It just makes so much sense. And there’s so much emotion behind his voice. You can hear some new little detail everytime you play the song. Geez. So before I turn this into the 3EB love-fest I’ve always wanted to host, I’ll carry on.
What’s sad is that little tribute to 3EB is probably going to be longer than the actual point of this post. This has been on my mind for a long time, and no matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with an easy way to explain it in more than a sentence. Which is usually good, but in this case… I don’t know… Maybe I should just write a book or something. Once I can come up with a way to explain this…
So folks, what it boils down to is this: I want to know why, as humans, we associate things which other. Did it make sense?
It started off as The Sophistication Factor and basically evolved into that little “thesis” of sorts that you just read.
So I guess I should explain the roots of The Sophistication Factor. I suppose it started with someone asking me if I like coffee. If you know me, it’s easy to guess that I said no. I mean, honestly, my tongue agrees with you on sweet, sour, and salty, so if I think coffee is disgustingly bitter, shouldn’t you too?
Going on. Tea. I’m Persian. If anyone drinks tea, it’s supposed to be me. My parents are sitting downstairs right now drinking tea. Probably like the 5th cup of the day no less. But I can’t stand tea. And I don’t think anyone really does like tea or coffee. Maybe you learn to love it because you feel like you should. Because one fool decided to take some beans and pour water through them, couldn’t give up his idea when he found out it was disgusting, and now the whole world is full of crazy coffee addicts.
Maybe that’s not really a good example. What I’m asking is why is it “cool” to drink coffee? Sort of like that funky feeling you get when you’re in a bookstore. You know what I’m talking about. You feel snobbishy and intelligenty and you want to tell people about it. Sophistication anyone? And you want to read expensive design magazines, and sip your coffee, and wear those semi-cheesy plastic frame glasses. And pay some smart entrepreneur a boat-load of money while doing it.
Some more. Who came up with the idea that it was cool to smoke? Why do associate tattoos with being “bad”? Why do people feel the need to drink, when if you stop and think about it, almost everybody would agree that it’s one of the stupidest things to do? Why do some people find body piercings so attractive? Why do we want stainless steel appliances when it just makes your cleaning three times as hard? Why are we still buying huge SUVs? Why are we so greedy? Why do we drink coffee?
Does anybody know what the hell I’m talking about?
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hm. you’ve been thinking! lol. i think piercings are attractive in my opinion. I don’t know why, it’s just a preference. Like people like blue eyes. I dunno. I like the taste of coffee. you put sugar & cream in it & it’s wonderful. but that’s just my opinion.
Ok, ok… but there is a certain “status” associated with it.
Maybe I’m overanalyzing… I tend to do that.
hm, you seem to make some pretty good points. don’t know which ones but or how many but i can tell you have, knowing you. anyway i’m not too sure what it is your trying to say or describe, so i’ll just say what i think you were trying to say. were you by chance talking about our behaviors and that of others in certain enviornments? well if that i agree that everyone does it but why, i don’t know either. my guess is this, you see others doing the same and in order to be orderly or the same. sometimes you want to be unique and you are but the feeling of doing certain things in certain places is still there. don’t know if that was a n answer to why. oh well. anyway, armin are you or did you go to brookwood’s homecoming? but considering your situation, i doubt you are (sorry if taht sounded “bad”). by chance did you see the movie “crash”, cause a lot of what you said kinda sounds like what that movie talks about. or at least the part about the tattoos and the whole reaction in behaviors according to the enviornment. and if you haven’t then i recommend you do. i thought it was a great movie. and coffee, it’s al right. and characteristics that i find attractive in women…well…they have to have a pretty face above all, i prefer them to have light colored eyes, and if they’re nice and seem unannoyed with talking to me then they are attractive or at least a good person to me (piercings i think seemed to be something girls find more attractive then guys, that’s if it’s anywhere other than the ears and even that).i went to homecoming here and managed to dance with several girls (yes i managed to although they were freshmen and some from mill creek) but there was one who seemed more attractive then the rest. she had a very pretty face and a good looking body (which is a plus) and she didn’t give the slightest hint of annoyance when i asked her to dance and her name (unfortuanetly that was all i asked, i know what a loser) but with that i got the impression she was a good person and found that attractive. oops, i seem to have gotten carried away there just a bit, sorry. maybe i’ll talk later about my first homecoming experience with you armin on AIM. but that’s it for now i guess. peace up, a-town down (lol).
sophistication factor rocks my socks!
u do have a few points… in the early years, one person associated tatoos with “bad” and it stuck…
I think this relates to why people say cuss words are bad. Why? because people came up with idea about behavior hundreds of years ago about what is good and bad, relating to the conditions of the time. Now, these things have not changed event hoguh conditions have changed over the years because people are habitual creatures. I think a few original htinkers exist and then everyone else follows, like Jesus, Muhammad, Abraham, Buddha, etc. These people got a couple of people to think like them, and as the numbers grew, they grew faster, and fed on themselves until everyone thoguht like that in the area. All taboos or beliefs in society are made by a few people each generation, adn they spread and mutate and people hold on to the ideas.
Richard Dawkins and others, say ideas are like viruses. They call them memes. Memes that are most widespread and successful have the ability to infect new minds and spread from their. Humans are basically sets of conflictiing or reinforcing memes that combine to form a semistable psychology. I think what your talking about is memes and how they spread and change over time. Do research on memes. Sorry about all that other stuff, but i worked hard on it and don’t wnat to delete it. Good luck pondering the depths of the human mind, Armin.