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James Zhang

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The problem to ALL the world's conflicts problems, etc. is society.

This will be hard to explain briefly, so I will provide one situation as an example. But I have reasoned many situations and I've come to one conclusion.

Society is the problem. The problem of why people are greedy, why there is corruption, why there is theft, murder, why there was the Columbine shooting, why there was the Virginia Tech shooting, why there is bullying, why there is "terrorism", (I can go on forever)... The answer to all these questions is simply how we are raised. That is the fundamental problem. Why did the Virginia Tech shooter kill all those guys? Because he was mentally unstable. Why was he mentally unstable? I think it's because he was very depressed at one point or very self-loathing. Why would he feel that way? Society imposed its will on him. As in, he was forced to be someone he was not, or else he wouldn't be accepted by society. And so my theory about all human life (just a theory, but I think it's a good one), is that ALL HUMANS WANT TO FEEL LIKE THEY BELONG. They all want to fit in society in some way. They want people to accept them for who they are. That's why some people want to put on a mask so that people would accept them. That's why people may hate themselves for being different because they think something is wrong with them and they try to change who they are, but then realize they cannot change who they are or how they feel. And it becomes frustrating. And if no one understands the way they feel or think, then it becomes lonely. And when you feel so lonely like that, you can contemplate suicide, or mentally unstableness. All sorts of negative emotions arise from deep depression as a result.

I have multiple explanations for this, and it's too much to address in this brief summary. So that's why I want to start a discussion with anyone.

But I will say this. I think we need to worry about this now because how can we stop a genius from nuking the entire world? When there's a will, there's a way nowadays.

Related Talks:
Topics: Behavioral psychology Being yourself Education. society behavior change child abandonment child development communication education misunderstanding understanding behaviour
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  • James Dunnaway

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    Aug 1 2012: Hi JZ, I do think what you are stating in your opening discussion topic is also of great importance. I feel those of us living in civilised or first world societies assume that because they are often democratic and free, that we live in socities that are tolerant and understanding, by default. That we mentally accept and believe that all our fellow human kin are included, accepted and tolerated within these societies. I think that we somehow believe this to be true despite evidence revealing otherwise to our personal senses and experience. This may be because theses values are explained as fundamental prerequisites to our civilised or first world societies values'. Yet, I think that because this is the projected image that we have taken the image for actual reality. I think in actual reality, this only holds true if we behave in certain accepted/expected ways, perceive things from certain accepted/expected perspectives and/or appear in a certain accepted/expected ways. We seem to be behaving like we do in order to remain accepted/tolerated, but I suspect, like myself, who I am as known and perceived by myself, is often very different to my stage/everyday persona. I interact on an everyday level with only a very limited aspect of myself, usually the practical aspect of myself, the worker aspect of myself, but there is so much more to me. I am assuming that this is true of some or all others too. It is very interesting getting to find out and know myself more but not easy as the dominant part of me who interacts in daily life has also subconsciously learnt the flipside too. Those that do not work are unacceptable or unpalatable, those that fall into the margins of society are unacceptable, those of a minority set such as gays, drug users are unacceptable. They are not directly persecuted or abused ( although instances do occur, and can happen to any of us at times for manifold reasons ) but neither are they embraced, welcomed. Tbc....
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      James Zhang 30+

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      Aug 1 2012: I feel like I'm a very confident individual who knows who I am and what I think, feel, and believe in. I don't want people to view me for who I am not, or else that would be the same as just denying your own existence.

      A lot of people are very judgmental and unaccepting. Take the Virginia Tech guy for example. Most people hated the guy for shooting all those people. I can understand the hate, but for me that's not how I really felt. I have concluded that the guy was severely lonely and angry at himself and the world. If my conclusion is true, I feel more pity and sympathy for him than hate. If I had gone through some kind of deep loneliness and depression like that, I would have done something drastic like suicide myself.


      So what I believe in is that there needs to be a better system that can accept people for who they are, not for who they are not, and while we're all different, we're probably more alike than people realize.

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