TED Community » Dylan Gonzalez

More About Me

I'm passionate about

How and why people think and do the things they do

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• A comment on Conversation: Why do we worship people (athletes, actors, musicians, etc)?

  Jan 22 2012: (Coming from the perspective of an angry teenager) I feel that living vicariously through those that we idolize is the closest thing to actually being them. We choose to build these people up and put them upon a pedestal, thus allowing them to have this "God-like" status. And when opportunity allows, we magnify their faults in order to boost our own self-esteem (the whole "I'm not as bad as that" factor). Why do you think we pay no attention to a homeless person's degradation but our attention zeros in on "So and So's tummy bulge"?
  
  Obviously we use these people as a tool to satisfy some sort of need. Perhaps we get some of the benefits of being these people without actually being them. Perhaps we give these people so much power over our lives because we do not want the responsibility that comes with empowering ourselves. I personally feel that worshiping celebrities is the equivalent of drinking "near beer". We get a taste of their "fabulous" live's without the actual feeling of being them.

• A comment on Conversation: Is Social Networking really as dangerous as its projected to be?

  Jan 18 2012: The internet is probably the most ground breaking, unintentional social experiment in the history of mankind.
  
  Only time will tell as to what extent we shall utilize this tool. I feel the question is not so much as is Social Networking dangerous, but rather if human nature is dangerous and that Social Networking aids us in our intentions.

• A comment on Conversation: Why do we chase happiness?

  Jan 16 2012: Because happiness feels good, and people like to feel good.
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  A comment on Conversation: How do we get corporations out of government.

  Jan 16 2012: Stop buying their products
  
  A simple concept. Maybe easier said than done, but not impossible.

• A comment on Conversation: If you could influence this issue, what would you do to drug addicts?

  Jan 5 2012: Coming from a family of addicts and being surrounded by such an element, there is not a doubt in my mind that addiction is a disease. It is a disease of the soul that has no boundaries and seeks to destroy everything around the one who is afflicted before taking the life of the afflicted themselves. One can even say that addiction closely resembles what some people view as demonic possession.
  
  These people are not criminals. They are merely sick people who have to commit criminal acts in order to get what they "need". They need help, not imprisonment

• A comment on Conversation: Isn't it stupid to fight against racists?

  Dec 26 2011: Hating people that hate people because they hate people.
  
  It makes no sense once it is written down
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  A comment on Conversation: Dream versus reality

  Dec 26 2011: Once you think about it we are living on a tiny pebble that is floating in infinite space. Reality is so bizarre that I think of dreams merely as a different reality.
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  A comment on Conversation: Injecting "Happiness".

  Dec 24 2011: The first thing that came to mind when reading this conversation was the fictional drug "soma" in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
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  A comment on Conversation: How do you celebrate this season? What are your rituals, traditions and foods? Tell us about yours from around the globe or around the block

  Dec 24 2011: Some of you may find this amusing, but my family (which consists of just my father, my little brother, and I) is somewhat "scroogish" in the sense that we do not partake in normal American Christmas traditions. My family for some reason doesn't enjoy the holidays that much and quite frankly we can't wait till they pass every year.
  
  Though, every Christmas day the 3 of us go to watch a movie. As unspectacular as it may be, it is still the closest thing to tradition that we partake in. However, none the less I am grateful for the 2 people that I spend those 2 hours in the movie theater with every year. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way =)
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  A comment on Conversation: Why is the U.S. and Europe in so much debt? What can be the outcome if the debt continues to rise?

  Dec 14 2011: I am not too sure about Europe, but I feel that the U.S. has become a nation of consumers rather than producers. We make nothing and buy everything to support what I feel is a rather gaudy lifestyle.
  
  As far as a solution goes, the things we make as a nation make our nation. If we make nothing, then we shall become nothing.